Brian Minter: Transforming ordinary to extraordinary

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Several years ago, at the Seattle Flower and Garden Show, I discovered these words inscribed on the side of a white piano and I loved them: “In the garden, anyone can be an artist without apology or explanation.”

Now, more than ever, it is such an empowering statement about how we should approach the creation of our own gardens. With this mindset, the ordinary can be transformed into the extraordinary. It can also inspire us to elevate our plantings to the level of art, resulting in more dramatic, expressive and meaningful displays. Creative gardening rewards us in more ways than we realize.  Garden art is very personal, and as a living art form, it changes as each season progresses.

Mentioning this now is important because, with the start of a new planting season, we have a wonderful opportunity to reimagine all we do. There is so much ‘ordinary’ in most gardens. With a little creativity, inspiration and thought, we could do so much better.

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Whether your creations are in a container or a garden bed, they should all begin with a focal point that demands our attention. In the green industry, this pivotal plant is often referred to as ‘the thriller.’ Once you have made that decision, all the other plantings should synergize with that focal point to create a ‘wow’ effect. In the artistic world, this is how you make 1 + 1 = 3.

Today, we have many high-impact plants which can truly make that statement. For very hot, exposed situations, I love the colourful foliage of canna lilies. The dark bronze, deep burgundy variety, C. Australia, is one of my favourites. Growing tall and narrow, its artistic form, when accented with a variety of silvers and whites, like some of the new helichrysum and spillover white petunias and verbenas, creates a powerful showpiece.

One of the most popular canna varieties, C. Tropicanna, has richly coloured foliage in tones of bronze, yellow, coral and red.  Again, silver accents make it pop. I like combining it with Vermillionaire cuphea and heat-loving, orange and yellow lantanas — both are hummingbird attractors.

Stunning C. Pretoria and its close cousin, C. Bengal Tiger, display subtle strips of yellow and green with a touch of red outlining the edge of each leaf. Fellow plantings in vibrant yellow and orange tones really bring them to life. Spill-over sanvitalias, gold bidens and soft yellow petunias would complement these cannas beautifully, as would the All-American Selection (AAS) award-winning yellow petunia Bee’s Knees, with its incredible spillover habit.

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In addition to the spectacular foliage, all these canna varieties have gorgeous, orange-toned flowers that add impact to the whole look of these colourful focal points.

Many other novel varieties, like the dark green and bronze C. Blueberry Sparkler the short, orange and red striped C. Pink Sunburst, the white and green striped C. Stuttgart and even the many green leafed varieties that have yellow, red and orange flowers can make great focal points.

Grasses, with their soft, flowing nature, also offer remarkable opportunities as centrepieces in your displays, and we are seeing a real love affair developing with all the great varieties available today. Even the slightest breeze excites their movement, making grasses a great value-add to any planting.

By far, the most popular grass, Pennisetum setaceum Rubrum (purple fountain grass), with its deep bronze leaves and dark burgundy, bunny tail plumes, is a stunner, and it plays nicely with so many other annuals. Unfortunately, it is a tender perennial that is hardy only in zones 8 or 9.

I’ll never forget the impact P.s. Rubrum made in hundreds of planters I saw while visiting Columbus, Ohio. These stunning containers had been planted using a simple combination of purple fountain grass surrounded by spillover hot pink petunias.  Used in massive numbers, these containers made the city streets pop. You can also complement purple fountain grass with shades of silver, soft yellow, orange or pink.

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A couple of their cousins, the tender Pennisetum setaceum Cherry Sparkler, with its white and pink highlights, and Pennisetum setaceum Fireworks, with its red accents, are attractive too.

Calamagrostis Karl Foerster, with its tall, narrow, long-lasting, seeded stems growing straight up, is the most architecturally structured grass. It offers so many more creative formal-looking opportunities.

I like to use spillover grasses as accents, such as Ogon, a gold striped acorus or the many new varieties of the carex Evercolor series, with their gold or white stripes. When you add in the powerful colour of the newer bronze-leafed begonias, like Megawatt and Whopper, their huge, vibrant pink or red flowers will perform in full sun until frost.

Now, as grasses begin to grow, check them out in local garden stores. Some of the amazing new varieties, like Miscanthus sinensis Fire Dragon and M.s. Red Cloud, will develop stunning colourful foliage and flowers as they mature.

Phormiums have always been popular. Unfortunately, most cannot be overwintered outdoors in our zone. Coming in a wide range of colours, from the grey (which actually is hardy in the Vancouver region) and bronze foliaged varieties to the yellow and red striped ones, they really have a very sophisticated, somewhat tropical look. By contrasting them with other colourful, tropical-like foliage, such as alternantheras and the many new colours of ipomoeas (sweet potato vine), they demand admiration, even without flowers.

Once we have warmer nighttime temperatures, many palms, red bananas (Ensete Maurelii) and the stunning black colocasias and alocasias can go outside to be the centre of attention all summer long.

This year, try some fabulous, shockingly beautiful show-offs as focal points. Take your plantings to a whole new level by accenting them with creative and fun new plants.

Remember: in the garden, anyone can be an artist.