Specimen Planting for Contrast: 6 Combinations

Are you struggling to create a visually striking mass planting or specimen planting bed that captures attention and holds interest? Contrast specimen planting is a powerful technique that can transform any landscape project from a snoozefest into something a bit more interesting.

By focusing on contrast, you can enhance visual appeal and create engaging garden spaces. This article delves into the principles of specimen planting for contrast, offering practical, real-world advice tailored specifically for Australian landscape architects and designers. The plant palettes can work in contrasted mass planting schemes, mixed borders, and other landscape functions.

Understanding Specimen Planting

Definition and Purpose of Specimen Planting

Specimen planting involves selecting individual plants mass planted in a bed or a border. These plants are chosen for characteristics such as shape, size, colour, texture, and overall suitability to the position. Additional plant functions can include erosion control, pollination resources, and weed suppression.

Importance of Selecting the Right Plants

Choosing the right plants is crucial for successful specimen planting. The selected specimens should stand out and complement the overall garden design. They should tolerate the site conditions, and each provide several landscape functions. Other factors to consider include colour, texture, form, scale, and overall compatibility.

Contrast in Specimen Planting

Defining Contrast

Contrast is the highlighting of differences to create visual interest. In landscape design, contrast emphasises each plant’s unique features by placing them side by side.

Benefits of Using Contrasting Elements

• Visual Interest: Contrast attracts attention and keeps the viewer engaged.
• Depth: Differing elements create layers and a sense of dimension.
• Balance: A well-balanced contrast ensures that no single feature overwhelms the others. Monocultures of a single mass planting can be stale and boring.
• Focal Points: Create a focal point that captures the viewer’s attention. This can guide the eye through the garden and highlight specific areas.
• Showcase Unique Features: By isolating a plant with distinctive features, you can highlight its beauty and form more effectively than if it were part of a larger group.
• Variety and Interest: Specimen plants add variety and intrigue to a landscape design, breaking up monotony and offering something unique to look at.

Texture

Texture refers to the surface quality of a plant’s foliage or flowers, ranging from fine and delicate to coarse and bold.

Using Texture in Specimen Planting:

• Create Visual Interest: Combining different textures can keep the viewer engaged. For instance, pairing the succulent leaves of pigface (smooth texture) with the needle-like leaves of westringia (fine texture) creates a visually stimulating contrast.
• Highlight Specimen Plants: A single coarse-textured plant will stand out against a background of fine-textured foliage, making it an effective focal point. And vice versa.
• Balance and Harmony: Mixing textures ensures that no single area feels too dense or monotonous. Fine-textured plants provide a light and airy feel, while coarse-textured plants add weight and presence.

Form

Form refers to the shape and structure of a plant. Different forms can create striking contrasts and serve as focal points in the garden.

Leveraging Form in Specimen Planting:

• Diverse Shapes: Use a variety of plant shapes, such as rounded, spreading, and upright, to add visual complexity. For instance, an upright dianella contrasts beautifully with a low, mounding scaevola.
• Creating Focal Points: Bold forms naturally draw the eye, so use them to highlight key areas of the garden. A sculptural tree with a unique form can be highlighted using strategic specimen contrasting.
• Guiding the Eye: Strategic placement of plants with contrasting forms can guide the viewer through the garden, creating a sense of journey and discovery.

Scale

Scale involves the size of plants relative to each other and their surroundings. Proper consideration of scale ensures a balanced and cohesive garden design.

Balancing Scale in Specimen Planting:

• Proportion and Balance: Large specimen plants can be balanced with smaller plants around them to avoid overwhelming the space. Ensure that the size of plants complements the size of the space itself.
• Creating Depth: Use plants of varying heights to create layers. Position taller plants at the back, medium-sized ones in the middle, and shorter plants at the front to add depth and dimension.
• Scale in Small Spaces: In smaller gardens, even medium-sized plants can create significant contrast. Choose plants that provide the right balance without overcrowding the area.

Sunlight (Availability and Preference)

Understanding the sunlight requirements and preferences of your plants is essential for their health and optimal growth. Light conditions also affect how colours and textures are perceived.

Integrating Sunlight in Specimen Planting:

• Sun and Shade: Be mindful of the natural light available in different parts of your garden. Some plants thrive in full sun, while others prefer shade. Group plants according to their light needs to ensure they flourish. Liriopes, philodendrons and some dianellas are great in the shade.
• Maximising Colour Contrast: The way light interacts with plant colours can enhance or diminish contrasts. Bright sunlight can intensify colours, while dappled shade can create softer, more muted contrasts.
• Night-time Illumination: Consider outdoor lighting to highlight specimen plants after dark. Spotlights or uplighting can emphasise textures and forms, adding another layer of interest to your garden.

Overall Composition

The overall composition of your garden includes the arrangement and interaction of all elements, ensuring they work together harmoniously.

Crafting a Cohesive Composition:

• Cohesive Design: Ensure that the various elements—colour, texture, form, scale—work together to create a unified design. A cohesive garden feels intentional and well-thought-out rather than chaotic.
• Repetition and Rhythm: Repeating certain plants or features can create a sense of rhythm and unity. This repetition helps tie different areas of the garden together, making the design feel coherent.
• Focal Points and Pathways: Use specimen plants as focal points to draw attention and guide movement through the space. Pathways and borders can help structure the garden, highlighting these focal points and making navigation intuitive.
• Seasonal Planning: Plan for a succession of blooms, fruits and foliage changes to ensure continuous interest throughout the year. This also helps provide consistent resources for local wildlife.

Combination 1: Contrasting Leaf Shape

Combining Fine and Broad Leaf Shapes

Example Plants:

• Low Horizon™ Westringia fruticosa ‘WES06 ’PBR
• Blue Horizon™ Eremophila glabra prostrate ‘EREM1’ PBR

Why it works:

• Creates a dynamic visual interplay between the fine needle-like leaves of westringia and the spoon-shaped leaves of eremophila.
• Offers a cool blue-green colour palette, with white flowers on the westringia appearing in spring and yellow flowers on the eremophila in winter.

Combination 2: Cool and Warm Colour Palette

Cool vs Warm Flower Colours

Example Plants:

• Bingo Blue™ Agapanthus hybrid ‘ANDbin ’PBR
• Anigozanthos hybrid ‘Gold Velvet’ PBR

Why it works:

• The cool blue tones of Bingo Blue Agapanthus flowers contrast vividly with the warm reds and yellows of Gold Velvet kangaroo paw flowers.
• Both plants flower abundantly together in spring.
• Enhances visual vibrancy and draws the eye, making each plant stand out more prominently.

Combination 3: Upright and Spreading Forms

Contrasting Forms for Structural Interest

Example Plants:

• Yareena™ Myoporum parvifolium ‘PARV01’ PBR
• Nafray® Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘PA300’

Why it works:

• Adds structural diversity by juxtaposing the tall, upright form of grass with the spreading habit of myoporum.
• Guides visual flow and creates a balanced composition in the garden.

Combination 4: Colour Contrast

Variegated vs Non-Variegated Forms

Example Plants:

• Isabella® Liriope muscari ‘LIRF’ PBR
• Silverlawn™ Liriope muscari ‘LIRSS ’PBR

Why it works:

• Colour Contrast: Silverlawn™ liriope features striking silver and green foliage, while Isabella® liriope has deep green leaves and vibrant purple flowers. The contrast between the silvery tones of Silverlawn™ and the rich greens and purples of Isabella® creates a captivating visual effect.
• Textural Harmony: Both plants share a similar strappy leaf texture, which provides a cohesive look while the colour contrast maintains interest and dynamism in the garden.

Combination 5: Leaf Texture Contrast

Succulent and Spiky vs Strappy and Grass-like Foliage

Example Plants:

• Sea Urchin™ Aloe hybrid ‘ANDsea’ PBR
• Anigozanthos hybrid ‘Amber Velvet’

Why it works:

• Leaf Texture Contrast: Aloe leaves are succulent and smooth, with spiky margins. Meanwhile, kangaroo paws are long, strappy and grass-like.
• Harmonic Flowering: Kangaroo paws flower most prolifically in the warmer months, while aloes flower most prolifically in the cooler months. This gives a landscape a wider coverage of resources for insects, birds and other pollinators throughout the year, with an overlap in the flowering window through spring when pollinators are most active.

Combination 6: Leaf Scale Contrast

Large Rainforest Leaves vs Strappy Foliage

Example Plants:

• Little Jess™ Dianella caerulea ‘DCMP01’ PBR
• Little Phil™ Philodendronspecies ‘PHIL01’ PBR

Why it works:

• Leaf Size Contrast: Little Phil Philodendron has broad leaves typical of a rainforest understory plant. Little Jess Dianella’s leaves are a darker green colour and much thinner and strap-like.
• Heavy Shade Tolerant: Little Phil Philodendron can be used as an indoor plant, so it’s tolerant of even the heaviest shade. Little Jess Dianella can also tolerate heavy shade, though it also likes full sun so you can transition your beds from a shady micro climate to a sunny one.

Daniel’s Wrap

Contrast in specimen planting is can help create visually appealing and engaging garden designs. By understanding the roles of colour, texture, form, and scale, and by combining different elements, landscape architects can craft dynamic and balanced landscapes.