Designing Garden Layers: Playing with Different Plant Shapes and Sizes

Do you want to create a garden that makes the best use of space for amenity, production and ecological abundance? This guide delves into the concept of garden landscape layering, a design approach that employs plant shapes, sizes, and habits, to achieve this goal.

Garden layering is a landscaping method that uses different plant habits to create depth, visual interest, and balance in a garden. Much like an artist employing a palette of colours, gardeners use a variety of plant shapes, sizes, and types to compose a layered, harmonious landscape.

This approach to garden and landscape design is a natural part of amenity horticulture – the professional management of public and private green spaces, as well as permaculture – a sustainable agriculture method that uses nature’s ways to our advantage as humans.

The Layers of a Garden Bed

A well-designed garden, like a well-baked cake, is composed of multiple layers. Here we explore the different layers found in a garden. These layers bleed into each other, and at some point they can be hard to differentiate.

For example, when does a tall shrub become a tree? Isn’t a low-growing strappy plant or a prostrate shrub also a ground cover? Doesn’t a tall canopy tree grow through the dwarf and medium layers before it finally reaches the canopy?

Nevertheless, these layers can form a good framework when designing our gardens to get some interesting interplay between plants. It also helps us make the most use of our space, whether we’re seeking amenity or food production from our plants.

Ground Covers

Ground covers form the base layer of a garden. They fill gaps, suppress weeds, and help retain soil moisture. Popular ground cover plants include turf, low-growing flowering plants like gazanias, and short plants with rhizomes or prostrate stems such as dianellas.

Ground covers can technically come in any shape or size as long as they cover the ground, but we tend to think of them as low-growing.

Strappy Plants/Grasses

Strappy plants or grasses form another layer. They add texture and movement to the garden, often characterised by clumping, strappy leaves and tall flower spikes that appear for part of the year. Excellent choices include lomandras, dianellas, kangaroo paws, dietes, liriopes and agapanthus.

Low-Growing Shrubs

Low-growing shrubs provide the next layer up, with prostrate plants, low hedges and plants with a low-growing mounding habit. They offer a transition between the ground covers and the taller elements of the garden. Popular examples include prostrate grevilleas, Mundi™ Westringia fruticosa ‘WES05’ PBR and Aussie Flat Bush™ Rhagodia spinescens ‘SAB01’ PBR.

Tall Plants

Taller shrubs serve multiple purposes in garden layering. They can be used for hedging, allowed to keep their natural habit for a more informal look, or employed as screening plants for privacy. Examples of tall plants include lilly pilly, callistemon, rhododendron, and camellia.

Dwarf Trees

Dwarf trees add a unique dimension to garden layering, providing structure without overwhelming the space. They’re ideal for small gardens or as a focal point in larger landscapes.

Popular choices include Eucalyptus caesia, known for its ornamental bark, and dwarf fruit trees like Malus domestica, which add a seasonal pop of colour. Standard roses (Rosa spp.) are another favourite, offering height and blooms without extensive spread.

Medium Trees

Medium trees provide shade, privacy, and habitat for wildlife. Examples include lillies callistemons, and some eucalypts. When choosing between dwarf, medium, and tall trees, consider factors such as the availability of space (above and below ground), light, and the desired aesthetic.

Also take into account the amount of space and light you’re going to lose when the plant is mature.

Canopy Trees

Canopy trees form the highest layer in a garden, providing shade, habitat and a sense of grandeur. Examples include eucalypts like E. baueriana, cypress trees, and Grevillea robusta.

When gardening around these giants, and the smaller trees as well, it’s important to respect their root systems and avoid compacting the soil. It’s always best to engage a professional tree crew under a consulting arborist’s guidance when maintaining these trees. Their long life spans make any damage caused by improper maintenance a potential long-term health struggle.

Creepers

Creepers are climbing plants that can fill vertical spaces, soften hard edges, trail out of baskets, and even act as ground covers. Common examples include hardenbergia, pandorea and star jasmine.

Layering Plants in Amenity Horticulture

Garden layering is a cornerstone of horticulture, enhancing the aesthetic and ecological value of both small courtyards and expansive public parks by making the best use of different plant habits.

You can use layers in any size garden, big or small. It’s just about using the available space intelligently through proper plant selection. And remember, we want every plant to have its chance to shine so put tall plants at the back of beds, and short plants at the front..

Garden Layering in Permaculture

In permaculture, garden layering maximises productivity and mimics natural ecosystems, fostering resource efficiency and diversity. Layering allows permaculturists and polyculturists to gain a yield from a larger number of plants within the same space, utilising all layers of their garden from ground covers to trees, and everything in between.

The idea is to create a “food forest” that’s also a functioning

Tips for Designing a Layered Garden

Designing a layered garden involves understanding your site’s conditions, choosing appropriate plants for each layer, and considering structural elements like paths and walls. Will your trees and shrubs encroach onto pathways, blocking access or requiring ongoing maintenance?

It’s also important to plan for maintenance, ensuring easy access to each layer and selecting plants with similar care requirements where possible. Do you have the maintenance crew on site with the required frequency to keep everything under control? What happens when the creepers begin climbing the wrong fences and trees?

Daniel’s Wrap

Garden layering is a way of thinking about gardens that embraces diversity, supports wildlife, and creates beautiful, functional, and productive spaces. Whether you’re an ornamental gardener or you’re into growing food, why not experiment with garden layering in your next project? The results may surprise you.

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