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by Carol Brinkman, HCMG |
COLLECTOR OR ARRANGER?
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Until today, I didn’t
know the medical term
for my condition —
one-of-each-itis. No
kidding, I read about it
online. According to
Billy Goodnick, a
landscape architect,
educator and writer in
California, most
gardeners are either
collectors or arrangers.
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Quoting Mr. Goodnick:
“The Collector’s
objective is simply
owning and successfully
growing all of the
plants that they adore.
Collectors don’t pay a
lot of attention to the
other plants that are
growing nearby —the big
picture takes a back
seat to growing each
individual plant. The
criteria for where to
plant the new purchase
are straightforward: 1)
Is there an empty space,
and 2) Can I get it to
grow?”
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The Arranger is one who
“is all about creating
combinations that result
in vignettes. The
objective is a play of
colors, forms and
textures that will be
subtly relaxing,
exuberantly energizing,
or whatever mood you’d
like to create.” |
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Goodnick is quick to say
that the collector’s
one-of-each-itis is not
a terminal condition. In
fact, he maintains the
collector can have a
garden worthy of
admiration by simply
applying the basic
design principles of
color, form and texture
to the collection as
does the arranger. The
idea is to create
harmony and unity in the
arrangement. |
Guidelines for his
5-step program are:
1) Sketch an outline
shape of your planting
bed; scale is not
important — just shape.
2) Divide the sketch of
the bed into three
flowing forms that have
contour and fit together
as in a simple jigsaw
puzzle.
3) Your new plants are
in a shaded area
awaiting planting. Step
back and look for the
common traits of bloom
color, leaf color,
form/shape, and size.
Group the plants
accordingly.
4) Decide which trait
you will use to bring
order to your planting.
As an example, if you
have chosen color as the
trait to work with, you
might have three color
groups — cool, warm and
white/silver. (This is
actually a variation on
the theme of “drifts of
color”.)
5) Within each color
area, fine-tune the
arrangement of the
plants to emphasize
texture, form, contrast
and size with the
larger/taller plants to
the back of each color
area.
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Using
this plan for recovery,
you can create a
planting that is
pleasing to the eye even
as you to indulge your
impulse buying! |
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