Contrast: Texture, Color

I was going through my digital pictures today, looking for a certain flower. I shouldn't have been surprised to have at least a dozen pictures of the plant--or the area where said plant resides--but not one single shot of the flower in question.

See, what really gets me going in the garden is contrast, especially contrasts in plant texture. Chunky bergenia leaves next to the fine foliage of achillea. A grouping of bold, glaucous ornamental sea kale interplanted with wispy French tarragon. And so on.

When you can throw different plant forms or leaf colors into the mix to turn up the contrast even more, so much the better. Add the whispy strands of a young ornamental grass to your bergenia and achillea, and you have the upright habit of the grass contrasting further with the rounded bergenia form and the horizontal flavor of the achillea flowerheads.

If flowers can add to the contrast, too, that's great. If they can't, then they had better at least not get in the way--or look good in a vase.

So here are a few of my favorite texture pictures from today: A stray red sunflower petal that fell into the cool threadlike foliage of 'Frosted Curls' sedge. Salvia officianalis 'Newe Ya'ar' with an underplanting of 'Dragon's Blood' sedum. A potted croton enjoying the summer sunlight with a background of artemisia.