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How to Build a Border

by Bob Hyland

Plant Selection Made Simple

The series of drawings below depicts the three major phases in the development of a 6- by 12-foot section of a mixed border planting. The first step is choosing the major anchor plants, such as shrubs and a background hedge, if appropriate. In the second phase, the herbaceous perennials that will provide most of the flower and foliage color and texture are selected. Phase three adds the icing to the cake: Bulbs and annuals are added to the mix to lengthen the season and offer nonstop color.

Phase One: Choosing Hedges and Shrubs

Shrubs featured in this planting:

Hydrangea paniculata Pink Diamond
Taxus × media 'Hicksii'

A hedge of upright yew (Taxus × media 'Hicksii') provides a dense, fine-needled evergreen background. It has been clipped here into a rather flat wall that defines the space, frames the border, and delineates boundaries. A deciduous hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata Pink Diamond) is planted in front of the hedge, its coarse foliage set off by the finer-textured background hedge. In early spring before other perennials, grasses, and bulbs make their appearance, the hydrangea's sparse, naked branches are traced against the dark green of the yew. In summer, its long-lasting flowers open creamy white and become deep pink with a red reverse, adding further interest and texture to the shrub layer.

Phase Two: Choosing Perennials

Perennials and spring bulbs featured in this planting:

Calamagrostis × acutiflora 'Avalanche'
Euphorbia dulcis 'Chameleon'
Phlox paniculata 'Düsterlohe' (syn. 'Nicky')
Sedum 'Ruby Glow'
Allium aflatunense

Herbaceous perennials and spring bulbs are planted to fill in the scene. Just in front of the hydrangea, an eye-catching clump of perennial phlox (Phlox paniculata 'Düsterlohe', syn. 'Nicky') provides attractive straight vertical stems, clean foliage, and, in season, deeply saturated magenta blooms. A silvery-white variegated feather reed grass (Calamagrostis × acutiflora 'Avalanche') punctuates the border with airy flower stems that bridge the gap in height between the shrubby hydrangea and the much shorter phlox. A cluster of ornamental onions (Allium aflatunense) draw the eye to the middle of the border with a knockout display of four-inch globes of purplish-pink star-shaped flowers. Anchoring the front of the border is a softly mounded clump of spurge (Euphorbia dulcis 'Chameleon'). Its small greenish-yellow flowers are accented brilliantly against the rich purple foliage, which also picks up the flower shades of the phlox and ornamental onions. The spreading, arching red stems and green leaves of a low-growing succulent stonecrop (Sedum 'Ruby Glow') reiterates the overall color scheme, echoes the foliage texture of the spurge's succulent leaves, and connects the border planting to the ground.

Phase Three: Choosing Annuals and Bulbs

Annuals and summer bulbs featured in this planting:

Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora 'Emily McKenzie'
Nicotiana mutabilis
Petunia integrifolia

By summer, the border is a symphony of pink, cerise, and burgundy tones backed by multitextured hues of green. Growing quickly with warm air and soil temperatures and long day length, summer-flowering annuals and summer bulbs weave together the mixed border. Vibrant Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora 'Emily McKenzie' erupts in mid-border, taking the place of the ornamental onions, which have by now faded. The crocosmia's branched spikes of bright orange flowers with mahogany throats provide contrast to the prevailing pink, purple, and magenta palette and blend nicely with the tawny vertical stems of the ripening feather reed grass, whose spires are echoed by its grassy foliage. With nodding flowers that begin white, age to pale pink, and finally fade to rose pink, annual flowering tobacco (Nicotiana mutabilis) provides a soft transition between the imposing shock of grass behind it and the rounded mound of stonecrop in front. As a bonus, it attracts hummingbirds to the scene. Bright pink-flowered Petunia integrifolia creeps along the front edge of the border and among the other plants, knitting all its bedfellows into a pleasing composition.