This June 6, 2010 photo taken in New Market, Va., shows hydrangea blooming red and blue on the same bush. Hydrangea are coarse-textured plants that draw the eye because of their contrasts in shape or appearance. (Dean Fosdick via AP)

This June 6, 2010 photo taken in New Market, Va., shows hydrangea blooming red and blue on the same bush. Hydrangea are coarse-textured plants that draw the eye because of their contrasts in shape or appearance. (Dean Fosdick via AP)

Don’t forget about texture when planning your garden

The most popular element in landscape design is color, but texture is another important building block. Texture in gardening can be seen as well as felt, and is used primarily to provide contrast.

Color lacks dimension without texture, which can soften spaces, provide visual interest, fashion backdrops and set moods.

“It takes a different kind of eye to appreciate texture in the garden,” said Susan Barton, a University of Delaware horticulturist. “We’re all programmed to recognize color, but once you start looking for texture, you can appreciate it.”

Landscape design is comprised of five basic principles: scale, balance, repetition, dominance and unity, said Rebecca Finneran, a horticulturist with the Michigan State University Extension program.

“The tools we use to achieve these are use of line, form, color and texture,” Finneran said. “Leaves, flowers, stems and bark can add ‘texture’ to the visual. Certain times of year or day will accentuate this. Even a pot or paving materials can add textural differences.”

Plant texture varies from coarse to fine.

Coarse-textured favorites include cannas, elephant ear, coleus, hydrangea and horse chestnut. All are dramatic and bold.

“They draw the eye because of their differences or contrast in shape or appearance,” Finneran said. “They dominate groupings.”

Most plants are said to be medium in texture, and generally are used to link fine and coarse arrangements in large settings. Examples include impatiens, daisies, camellias and viburnum.

Fine-textured plants generally have smaller foliage. Ferns, grasses, vines, shrubs and Japanese maples fit into this category.

The subtle use of texture also can create a sense of scale and distance. Placing coarse-textured plants closest to the observer with medium plants in the middle and fine-textured assortments in the rear makes the setting appear more distant. Reversing that, with coarse-textured plants in the background and fine-textured varieties up front, tends to make gardens look smaller.

Hardscaping — using winding pathways and streams, eye-catching fountains and furniture — also produces a sense of visual texture, along with four-season interest. The same goes for foliage shape, bark surfaces and the patterns made by branches.

Even kitchen gardens can be accented by emphasizing visual texture. Dill, fennel, thyme, asparagus and lavender are fine-textured plants that are attractive in edible settings. Tomatoes, basil and peppers serve for medium texture, while lettuce, chard, corn and okra provide the coarse.

“Beets are a great example of adding colorful foliage to an edible garden,” Finneran said. “Pair this plant with a ferny-looking foliage of carrots and you’ve got a lovely design that you will eat later on.

“Purple kohlrabi is another great example — not to mention Swiss chard,” she said. “All of these add bold coarse texture with fun color that is sure to please.”

Seek out plants based on their physical characteristics. Color is good, but visual texture is more enduring.

“Whether using plants in a container, or annuals and perennials or woody plants in the landscape, making intentional choices relative to texture will ensure an eye-pleasing outcome,” Finneran said.

Online:

For more about textures in landscaping design, see this Cornell University Fact Sheet: http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/homegardening/scene43bf.html

This Aug. 19, 2008 photo of backlit grasses taken at Fordhook Farm in Doylestown, Penn., shows how fine-textured plants can accentuate gardens at certain times of the day. Color is primary in garden planning but visual texture is an important design fundamental adding interest. (Dean Fosdick via AP)

This Aug. 19, 2008 photo of backlit grasses taken at Fordhook Farm in Doylestown, Penn., shows how fine-textured plants can accentuate gardens at certain times of the day. Color is primary in garden planning but visual texture is an important design fundamental adding interest. (Dean Fosdick via AP)

More in Life

John Messick’s “Compass Lines” is displayed at the Kenai Peninsula College Bookstore in Soldotna, Alaska on Tuesday, March 28, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Messick reflects on path forward in ‘Compass Lines’

“Compass Lines,” a new book by John Messick, a local writer and… Continue reading

Keanu Reeves portrays John Wick in "John Wick: Chapter 4." (Photo courtesy Lionsgate)
On the Screen: ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ goes out on top

In the showstopping, approximately 40-minute long, third-act action sequence of “John Wick:… Continue reading

Will Morrow (courtesy)
Springing ahead

I’m not ready to spring ahead

Murder suspect William Dempsey is pictured shortly after he was captured on the outskirts of Seward in early September 1919. (Photo courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks archives)
A Nexus of Lives and Lies: The William Dempsey story — Part 8

Dempsey spent more than a decade attempting to persuade a judge to recommend him for executive clemency

Promotional image via the Performing Arts Society
Saturday concert puts jazz, attitude on stage

Lohmeyer is a former local music teacher

The author holds a copy of Greta Thunberg’s, “No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference,” inside the Peninsula Clarion building on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Off the Shelf: Thunberg speeches pack a punch

“No One Is Too Small to Make A Difference” is a compilation of 16 essays given by the climate activist

White chocolate cranberry cake is served with fresh cranberries. (Photo by Tressa Dale/Peninsula Clarion)
Hard-to-ruin cranberry cake

This white chocolate cranberry cake is easy to make and hard to ruin — perfect for my students aged 3, 6, 7 and 7.

Virginia Walters (Courtesy photo)
Life in the Pedestrian Lane: It’s March

March is the trickster month, probably why we see so much raven activity these days

After Pres. Woodrow Wilson commuted his death sentence to life in prison, William Dempsey (inmate #3572) was delivered from Alaska to the federal penitentiary on McNeil Island, Wash. These were his intake photos. (Photo courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks archives)
A Nexus of Lives and Lies: The William Dempsey story — Part 7

The opening line of Dempsey’s first letter to Bunnell — dated March 19, 1926 — got right to the point

Bella Ramsey as Ellie and Pedro Pascal as Joel in “The Last of Us.” (Photo courtesy HBO)
On the Screen: ‘The Last of Us’ perfectly adapts a masterpiece

HBO unquestionably knew they had a hit on their hands

Chocolate cake is topped with white chocolate cream cheese frosting. (Photo by Tressa Dale/Peninsula Clarion)
A cake topped with love (and white chocolate cream cheese)

He loved the frosting so much he said he never wants anything else on his cake

In 1914, Pres. Woodrow Wilson appointed Charles Bunnell to be the judge of the Federal District Court for the Third and Fourth divisions of the Alaska Territory. (Photo courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks archives)
A Nexus of Lives and Lies: The William Dempsey story — Part 6

Prosecution lawyers were fortunate to have a fallback plan: witnesses to the crime.