Options for Adding Texture to Your Garden

Have you ever looked down at your patio garden or backyard garden and thought something was missing? It’s probably a lack of texture in your garden. Often, new gardeners may fall in love with just one or two types of plants and exclusively add them to their new garden. This results in one big mass of the same plant, which can look great when properly applied in a garden design, but probably isn’t the best way to go if you’re doing it on the fly.

To start, what is texture in gardening? Texture in garden design refers to the size, shape, and surface quality of plants and their leaves.  Texture is often influenced by the way light plays on the plants, too. Using more texture in your garden not only adds to its visual appeal, but also helps create the right mood in your garden.

Types of Plant Textures

Plant textures range from fine or medium, to coarse or bold.

Plants with coarse and bold foliage have large leaves or large gaps between the leaves. Hostas, Heucheras, and Canna are examples of plants with coarse texture. Yucca is another great example of a coarsely textured plant that does especially well in the arid Colorado climate.

Plants with fine texture have small, feathery, delicate leaves or flower blossoms.  Ferns, Artemisia, Lavender, and Grasses are a few examples of plants with fine texture.

You can also offset a large amount of coarse and fine textured plants with smooth plants such as the broad leaved Hens & Chicks succulent plant. In general, succulents are a go-to option for quickly adding texture to your garden.

Garden Texture Options Beyond Plants

Now that you have a good base for choosing plants with texture for your garden, consider the many other man-made elements that go into completing a garden design. This includes patio settings, planter types, stone walkways, garden ornaments, and much more.  All can be used to add interest and more texture in your garden.

Consider the ‘mood’ you’re trying to evoke with your garden. If you’re aiming for a garden that instantly calms you down from the stresses of the week when you enter it, choose more natural elements to add, such as wood patio furniture, a bamboo water feature, smooth succulent plants, and even a wood wind chime.

On the flip-side, if you host many parties and want to show off your garden, choose such striking elements as coarsely textured plants, a brightly painted tile mosaic, metal garden ornaments, and hand-painted ceramic planters.

The beauty of adding texture to your garden is that it’s hard to go wrong with it! It’s your garden to start with, and it will show off even more personality as you add to it. If you’re not sure where to start, or have questions on the compatibility of plants in your garden, stop into the garden center today or call us at (303) 399-1177.