A Garden That Plants Itself

Take advantage of self-sowers for a gorgeous, ever-changing design

The Garden in a Nutshell

USDA Hardiness Zone:5

luminance : Full sun

land : Clay loam amended each yr with compost and manure

Maintenance level : sensitive

Biggest challenge : Staying on top of the thinning in springtime

Biggest reward : A intimate but different garden each year

When I leftNew York City 20 year ago and moved upstate to the Catskill Mountains , I could n’t await to make a neat , neat garden in which to turn salad , string beans , and burnished efflorescence for the table . For a few years , I mystify with acquire a mix of edible and ornamental . But then I plan a large kitchen garden for a node nearby that provided plenty of food for us both , so I phased out veggies at home . By then , many of the dewy-eyed one-year flower I had introduce to my garden had begun to settle in and self - sow from year to yr . I have intercourse how these “ volunteers ” popped up in unexpectedplaces and help soften the formal layout of the garden . And I began to note how they almost always outshone storage - buy transplants , which sometimes failed to thrive no matter how much care and tending they received . The self - sowers , in addition , tended to be more pest resistant and drouth tolerant . Plus , they were free and require no dig .

A limited palette of plantsand careful editing in spring keep this garden visually cohesive yet abundant .

The garden today is a fat store of semen . Each spring , thousands of seedlings emerge and carpet the bed . My job , begin in other May , is to step by step thin and edit . It seems a daunting task at first , but I ’ve study not to get overwhelmed . I weed as I go , but this is a unco weed - free garden as I ’ve been persevering over the class in not allowing grass to get established , coiffe seed , and cast aside their progeny about . The overall plant palette is limited , allowing for repetition , which in bout make a soothing and balanced rhythm among the planting . In a garden of self - sower , one never knows for certain which plants and which colors will dominate from one year to the next . The cozy , tapestry - comparable effect is always slightly unlike ; and some years , it ’s better than others . But whatever the case , I can always count on the strong bones of the garden , coupled with some carefully placed , clipped and stately boxwoods , to lend order and symmetry to the seasonal profusion of color , texture , and smell . And I can always count on being amused , delighted , and surprised by the pluck and spontaneousness of plants that imbed themselves and necessitate only to be admire .

A Simple Formula for a Self-Sown Garden

▶Permanent plants offer structure and consistency

My garden is set up as a simple four - straight design consisting of 11 raised beds , a circular centrepiece , and narrow earthen way of life . Eight Turkish boxwood ( Buxus‘Green Mound ’ and ‘ Green Mountain ’ , Zones 5–8 ) inhabit key place to accentuate the garden ’s complex body part and to give it some evergreen plant gravitas . A scant few perennials , such as lady ’s mantle ( Alchemilla mollis , Zones 4–7 ) , Joe Pye weed ( Eupatorium purpureum , Zones 3–9 ) , and ‘ Prairie Glow ’ brownish - eyed Susan ( Rudbeckia triloba‘Prairie Glow ’ , zone 3–11 ) , have been provide to creep in and speckle the outer beds .

▶Self-sown annuals and perennials are an ever-changing tapestry

The garden consists in the main of a limited pallet of bad , drouth - tolerant , and vibrantly colour self - sow in yearbook . I limit the variety so that there is plenty of room for each type of works to be recur among the bottom , maintaining a mother wit of continuity and order .

▶Store-bought annuals and seeds fill in the gaps

Each yr , after the final self - sower are slenderize and established , I sum shop - bought transplant — zinnias , marigolds , salvias — to sate any gap . Some geezerhood , about mid - May , I push helianthus seeds into the outer beds and nasturtium seed among the bushy plants in the inner bottom . My aim is to cover the ground and to see all the flora weave together into one great arras .

A Year in the Garden

Like most gardeners , I continually rethink and change my gardens , and I love the boot of plant new things . But in this garden , the process is simplify and the study of planting is almost eliminated . Change pass of course because I do n’t have to remember about place plants ; I simply have to remove the ace that do n’t belong . Like a good editor in chief , I nurture the garden ’s voice and allow it enjoin the account .

Early spring

The gardening year commence in April , when I light up aside winter debris , tidy the beds , and sweep the earthen paths . It ’s always a pleasure to see the new , clear , blank canvas each year . Near the ending of the month , I shear the boxwoods just as they ’re breaking dormancy and showing unexampled outgrowth .

Late spring/early summer

May and June are the only high-pitched - alimony months . In May , the seedling get to develop rapidly and the thinning physical process begins . I begin by choosing particularly strong individuals and yield them room to breathe and grow by eliminate all seedling within a few inches around each one . The cutting process continues into June , involve less than an hr of employment per hebdomad . In mid - June , I fill any crack with store - bought annuals .

The Palette of Self-Sowers

✦Spider flower(Cleome hasslerianacvs., annual)

✦Flowering tobacco(Nicotianaspp. and cvs., annual)

Love-in-a-mist(Nigella damascenacvs., annual)

✦Perilla(Perilla frutescens*cvs., annual)

✦Poppy(Papaverspp. and cvs., annual)

✦Amaranth(Amaranthusspp. and cvs., annual)

Kochia(Kochia scoparia,annual)

Sunflower(Helianthusannuuscvs., annual)

✦Golden feverfew(Tanacetum parthenium‘Aureum’, Zones 4–9)

Tall verbena(Verbena bonariensis*,Zones 7–11)

✦Controlled chaos

All of the self - sowers in this garden disperse their come when they begin to ripen in late summer . Most are well behaved , but some cum heavily , produce a dense , nearly heavy stack of seedling the following leap . I control this fairly by completely deadheading these works , save the seed , and spreading them around where I choose . The plant I regulate are marked with a star ( ✦ ) in this list .

Summer

Near the oddment of June , when only the best plant are left standing , I top the bed with a generous level of a fine , crumbly mulch of compost and manure . I do no supplemental watering , even in ironical weather . By mid - July , the ground is covered and the plants are thriving . The mulch keeps the soil moist , and the plants knit together and shade the ground . I pluck out dope , which are few and far between . I prepare the garden regularly , and there is ordinarily a bit of staking to do in August , when the garden peaks .

fall

In autumn , I trend back on training and tending and allow nature to claim the garden as its own . Soon enough , the oeuvre of seed aggregation begins . I simply cut the seedpods off their dry stalk , toss away them in paper bag , and leave them to dry in the shed for several weeks . In November , I cut down and pick up the garden .

wintertime

After wintertime has settle in for good , I disseminate seeds around so that they can lie on the reason and be of course cold and dormant . freeze and thawing will assist describe them into the grease , and snow and rain will stop the process of planting them . Most winters , the garden lies buried beneath a thick stratum of Baron Snow of Leicester until March .

To see more photos of this garden , go toFineGardening.com/extras .

Dean Riddle is a garden designer in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York .

Photos , except where notice : Michelle Gervais ; Kerry Ann Moore ; Jennifer Brown

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This garden requires less inputthan traditional gardens and results in a unique and fascinating tapestry each year.

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This garden requires less inputthan traditional gardens and results in a unique and fascinating tapestry each year.

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