When designing a garden, there are many decisions to make and hundreds of options to consider when placing plants. To begin with, you have to place plants in which they will actually increase. This is exactly what distinguishes garden layout from any other form of design: Every choice affects a living thing.
When you’ve thought about the plant’s growing requirements, you still have a range of alternatives for designing with that specific plant. Today, the plant in question happens to be the unassuming daisy. It’s a classic flower that enjoys sunlight and can handle a variety of soil types, so it’s rather low maintenance. Designing with daisies boils down to a basic question: mix or mass?
Elliott Brundage Landscape Design
Genevieve Schmidt
Shasta Daisy
The familiar”He loves me, he loves me not” blossom, this daisy looks fabulous in massive drifts. The Shasta daisy also looks good as a standalone clumping plant, surrounded by other perennials. Which do you prefer?
Botanical name: Leucanthemum × superbum
Common names: Shasta daisy
USDA zones: 5-8
water necessity: Water to establish, then drought tolerant
Sun necessity: Full sun
Mature size: 3 to 6 ft tall, 1 to 3 ft wide
Black-Eyed Susan
Then there are the Black-eyed Susans. They have a classic daisy form, but their buzzing beelike combo of black and yellow livens up fields from Nebraska into Pennsylvania.
Botanical name: Rudbeckia hirta
Common names: Black-eyed Susan
USDA zones: 3-11
water necessity: Water to establish, then drought tolerant
Sun necessity: Full to partial sun
Mature size: 2 to 10 feet tall depending upon variety
Milieu Design
Mixed in a perennial border, Black-eyed Susans brighten up a lackluster bed and offer comparison to blues and purples.
R DESIGN Landscape Architecture P.C.
Do you enjoy the two colours mixed, or do you prefer a more orderly arrangement?
SchappacherWhite Architecture D.P.C.
Keeping with a more naturalistic planting motif, Black-eyed Susans look in home weaving in between native prairie grasses. These plants are tough and can take care of the competition.
Field Outdoor Spaces
Clumps of these blooms fit well into a thoughtful landscape layout.
Wagner Hodgson
Coneflower
Another Traditional blossom of this Asteraceae household is your coneflower. The traditional Echinacea features a cone-shape center and genteel purple blossoms. Massed along a stone edge, they make a beautiful statement in summertime.
Botanical name: Echinacea
Common names: Coneflower
USDA zones: 3-9
water necessity: Water to establish, then drought tolerant
Sun necessity: Full sun
Mature size: 2 to 4 ft tall, 1 to 2 feet wide
Matthew Cunningham Landscape Design LLC
Obviously, these tough and hardy prairie natives can interweave amid plants. Which looks best to you?
River Valley Orchids
The option to mass or blend daisies is all up to you. They are tough enough to handle either method and beautiful enough to match a host of designs. How are you going to plant your daisies and daisy-like blossoms this season?
More:
Find more great design plants and blossoms