Groups Plants at www.japanese-home-gardens.com

THE BEST WAY of planning a border is to work with small groups plants of plants so you can concentrate on the relationship between the subjects, and so gradually build up the groups plants into a whole border planting. Choose plants with shapes that complement each other and which make an interesting and varied effect. You will notice that different plants create a variety of effects. Spiky plants, for example, are active and lead the eye upward and onward to neighboring plants, while gentle hummock-forming plants are calming and bland, and lead the eye horizontally along the border. At the same time think of height. Either use a tier system with tall plants at the back and shorter ones at the front, or use tall plants in the middle of the group to create peaks of interest, with shorter-growing plants leading the eye upward toward them. This will divert the eye and prevent it from traveling straight down the border, taking it all in at a glance. However, if tall plants are used toward the front of a border, they should be wispy enough to allow the eye to pass through them, yet substantial enough to break the line.

Most herbaceous plants flower for three or four weeks each year, so if a bed or border devoted exclusively to them is to remain interesting, plants with differing flowering periods must be chosen and placed with regard for their color, height and flowering time. As a rule they are planted in irregular groups plants of a variety, with the taller kinds at the back of a border or in the middle, and the shorter ones in front or around the edge. It is better to make individual groups plants long and narrow rather than broad since they will be less conspicuous when not in bloom.

The task of growing house plants is much simplified if the gardener thinks of groups plants of plants that require certain conditions with a certain environment and appropriate treatment for each group. Simple grouping of such plants is (1) warm, desert type, requiring full sunshine, warmth and moderate watering; (2) cool moist conditions, either with bright sunlight or half-shade; (3) plants needing considerable heat and high humidity, either with full or slightly modified sunlight.