brown 5

It might have been the work of firm Oehme and van Sweden that first introduced me to the idea of leaving faded stems on dormant perennials. It might have been the work of Piet Oudolf. In either case, I like the concept. Their work takes into consideration the look of perennials in the quiet season, and showcases the variation in color and form of the faded stems. It is not an easy thing to design, since catalogs and books tend only to show the actively growing form. Unless you have an excellent mental catalog of winter plant forms, or have a nursery, or have taken photographs (book proposal anyone?) of many perennials in their winter form, this task can be daunting. The results can be incredible, like a dried flower arrangement, with beauty lasting through the months of a normally barren season.

Something I've learned is that there are definitely some plants that work well with this plan, and some plants that don't. One important thing, if you haven't figured it out already, is that the plant have good winter form. This is obvious in concept, but not so obvious when you (I) are (am) at the nursery or looking in the garden trying to decide what to plant in the spring, and are being seduced by the cute growing plants, or by the luscious blooms. This is compounded by not knowing what the winter performance of a plant will be.

I've noticed that the plants that work best for this type of winter garden are those that not only have strong stems and hold onto seed heads, but just as importantly, they are plants that have a strong uniform plant shape. Winter design depends upon contrast not only in color, but in shape, so the leafless shape of the plant counts. This is why plants such as Calamogrostis x acutifolia 'Karl Foerster' work well, as well as the Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm' that these designers like.

There is a reason why these garden styles are called "prairie style." The large drifts of plants reflect upon the prairie, and the plants which grow in this form, naturally, are prairie plants. New Mexico plants are not necessarily prairie plants. Although Albuquerque could be called transitional grasslands, the plants tend not to have the lush full forms that I've seen in the designs of those famous designers. They tend to have irregular forms and are sparsely branched. Although plants may grow in drifts, they tend to be seen as such only from a distance, individual plants growing in relative isolation and the drifts intermingled. You might think that you could just plant a bunch of the native plants closer together and irrigate them to simulate the prairie style. But no. Trust me on this (ever hear of rot?).

This is to say that I have found that plants native to the area in which I live, tend not to perform well in the winter designs of the prairie style which popularized the look of faded perennials. This is not to say that the winter appearance of native perennials are unattractive. The milkweed above (Asclepias subverticillata) has great lasting seed pods, the color of which contrasts nicely with the darker colors behind it. Although this is a very large clump, the irregular stems do not visually form a single mass. Designers in this area may need to develop a whole new design methodology to accommodate this. What will it be called?

My take on this idea. Could use some tweaking, such as a larger planting, or substituting gaillardia for the agastache.