This is a continuation of Tips on Planting in Patterns. There are more techniques you can use to help your mass planting look uniform, including planting in staggered rows and making sure your flower garden is planted on a flat piece of ground. How precise it really can be or has to be is purely up to you - and, to some extent, up to Mother Nature.
Planting Staggered Rows
If your design includes more than one row of plants, set the plants in a staggered pattern. Viewed from the front, the individual plants in the second row should not be directly aligned behind each plant in the first row. They should alternate -- as shown in the photo for the article How Many Plants Do I Need? -- like the pattern made by all the red or all the black squares on a checker board. This way you will see all of the plants as a mass rather than in distinct front to back and side to side rows. For a uniform result, maintain the same spacing on center between rows so the plants are equidistant in every direction.
How Precise Do I Need to Be?
Every gardener has their own personal tolerance level for inexactitude. Since I began as a cottage gardener, I have rarely planted formal rows or lines of anything (except hedges.) Informal planting schemes using a wide mix of plants help hide any mistakes or measurement errors although you still need to space your plants so they have sufficient room to grow and stay healthy.
However, I have strong appreciation for a well-executed design with formal patterns that include precise lines and matching, symmetrical blocks of plants. The more carefully you measure, the better your results will be.
Using annuals with highly predictable sizes helps maintain uniformity; tight spacing keeps the color continuous; annuals that begin to bloom early and continue until frost give the longest display. Planting in a very flat garden space and employing a finely tuned watering system increase the uniformity of the result as well.
But some factors will be beyond your control: weather for instance is always unpredictable, so are the woodchuck that eats three plants out of twenty and the cutworm that removes ten out of a hundred. You can keep a few "spares" to use as replacements, or you can live with the imperfection.
Gardeners have to accept a certain amount of unpredictability. When a mass planting looks absolutely perfect, it is truly a measure of your effort and all the stars being aligned in your favor.
In other words, relax and have fun with it!
All Flower Gardens Articles So Far
Copyright 2006 Barbara Martin
