Plants For Texture: Evergreens, Ornamental Grasses, & More

Add texture to your landscape with evergreens, grass, and trees!

 

Plants for texture in a Pennsylvania garden may include both perennial and evergreen shrubs, grasses, ferns, and colorful annuals. This blog covers everything you need to know about grouping different texture plants together to create an aesthetically pleasing garden. 

 

Coarse Textured Plants 

Coarse-textured plants typically have large leaves or blossoms and serve as the extroverted ‘attention-grabbers’ in your landscape. They tend to fill up space or make the area feel smaller when used in mass, so they’re a great option to fill up your garden’s oddly empty spots. A plant’s coarseness is often referred to as its ‘boldness.’ Think hostas, rhubarb, saucer magnolia, and oakleaf hydrangea.  

 

Medium Textured Plants

Most plants have medium textures, meaning they are neither coarse nor fine. Their leaves or blooms are generally medium-sized and simple in shape with smooth edges. Plants of medium textures play a pivotal role in beautifying your garden, but planting with too many medium-textured plants can make your garden appear flat and uninspiring. However, using only coarse and fine-textured plants will make your garden appear too busy; this is why you want to combine all three textures to achieve the perfect look! 

 

Fine Textured Plants 

Fine-textured plants add an airy and delicate feel. Generally, plants with fine textures have smaller leaves and blooms and linger in the background, though the plants themselves can grow to be quite large. They are often used to make small spaces in gardens appear more spacious, making them great front lawn plants to fit into tighter areas. Common fine-textured plants include baby’s breath, lamb’s ear, dill, and lavender. 

 

Balancing Texture

Creating a winning look in your garden is all about finding the right balance between different textures. A texture-based method involves knowing which plants pair best together. For instance, canna lilies, like Tropicanna canna, have very coarse foliage. Canna lilies contrast nicely with the fine texture of ornamental grasses. 

Similarly, the blooms on the various roses are relatively coarse, so you can try pairing them with a perennial bachelor button with a medium plant texture. Plant cosmos in candy-colored shades of pink, red, and white for a light and frilly texture in your garden; they’re almost like daisies with scalloped edges and a bit more texture!

 

Ornamental Grasses

When ornamental grasses sway in the wind, they form constantly changing patterns of light and shade and offer a nice contrast to other garden plants! One benefit of gardening with ornamental grasses is that they are forgiving about soil and are drought tolerant once established. A gorgeous combination of ornamental grasses and flowers is dwarf fountain grass against pee gee hydrangeas or purple cordylines, or variegated miscanthus grass against a broad-leaved holly.

 

Texture with Trees & Shrubs

Foliage does not always have to be the focus of texture; you can also use branches and shrubs. Japanese maple trees are perfect options for gorgeous foliage with a fine texture, while evergreens provide coarse texture that emboldens your space.

Clumping is a term describing plants that grow slowly to form clusters or additional stems. Many people find that clumps of river birches or other birch trees are more attractive than single trees, as they are a great way to fill space and texturize your garden. 

A popular favorite is the dura heat river birch, adorned in green deciduous foliage during the spring and summer months and peeling white bark in the wintertime; their dried foliage adds an interesting texture to your winter landscape.

 

Many gorgeous plants and trees are available that work well in large and small gardens and offer texture to your backyard. Visit us at Primex Garden Center in Glenside, Pennsylvania, today for everything you need to know about achieving the perfect balance in your landscape design.