There are several design techniques to use for perennial garden design ideas. It is immensely important to create a plan with the conceptual understanding of the eventual size of the plant and the garden's specific sun and water needs.
Home versus Garden
Many designers make the mistake of placing a casual garden with a formal home or vice versa. It is important to match your garden style to a home’s architectural style in order to bring consistency and better curb appeal to the home. For example, a mid-century modern home or a larger home with strong design elements might need straighter lines and geometrical garden shapes. A ranch house or country home might need loose and informal garden shapes.
It is important not to compete with the home or building structure, but instead, be cautious of scale and make the landscape harmonious and beautiful.
Perennials Need to be Seen
Plan the garden beds so that there is always a consistent bloom. That means choosing perennials that bloom at different times throughout the season, creating as much interest as possible in the landscape.
One concept for perennial garden design is to put all the tall perennials in the back, the medium height plants in the middle, and the short plants in the front of a planting border. This works well up against a fence or wall and enables the perennials to be visually seen. If planting an island perennial garden, plant all the tall perennials in the middle of the bed, circled by medium height plants, with an outer ring of short plants. Much like hanging a picture in your home, it helps to focus on planting in odd numbers; one, three, five, seven, and so on. Odd numbers of plants look better grouped together.
In the end, there are no hard and fast rules in design. Be creative - plant monochromatic beds, contrasting color beds, perfectly even beds, foliage-only beds, herbal perennial beds, and so much more. Your imagination is the only limit on the design ideas you might use to build a little piece of landscape heaven.
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