Things Are Looking Up
These tall plants with a narrow profile add dynamic form and substance to your garden.
Color is my jam—more please. But form, as in the shape of a leaf, the silhouette of a bloom and the overall profile of a plant, is the backbone of a successful garden design. Spires, spikes and skinny plants are one of my favorite forms to play with. Possibly because tall narrow plants have a relatively small footprint so it’s easy to shoehorn them in among drifting perennials in early spring just as established plants are just putting on new growth. More plants are always a good thing.
In Designing with Plants, European plantsman Piet Oudolf writes, “spire-shaped flowerheads lift the garden.” By drawing our eyes upward, plants with a narrow profile fill the space above the garden, making even the tiniest planting bed feel more dynamic as the spire catch the breeze. The master designer goes on to advise planting spires and spike-blooming plants in multiples, never as a lonely single.
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