APLD ~ APLD Members ~ Member of the Month

APLD Members ~ Member of the Month

Doug Gagne, APLD
Featured Member, APLD Website, December 2006

On Mixed Borders:

One of the main challenges of being a residential garden designer is to create inspired, fresh gardens in a distinctive style. I became interested in the “mixed border” style over twenty years ago, and believe that it meets the expectations of today’s homeowners, many of whom desire instantly lush, colorful gardens requiring little maintenance. And mixed borders are naturally suited to those of us who live and work in a cold climate, as they can be designed to provide 4 seasons of interest.

By definition, a mixed border is a mingling of woody and herbaceous plants, carefully arranged in layers of trees, shrubs, perennials, ground covers and vines, all selected to suit the conditions of soil and light. Seasonal plants such as annuals, tropicals and bulbs may also be added to the mix. Such compositions mimic nature, for here in the Northeast the forest and associated understory are what becomes of cleared fields and mown meadows when they are no longer managed by the farmer. However, a mixed border is not intended to be a re-creation of a woodland; rather, trees, when they are used, become structural elements and provide shade to the plants beneath, and beyond.

I rely on fewer woody plants, and use many more perennials, than most garden designers, especially within foundation plantings. Otherwise, to give that full, “established landscape” look that clients desire, shrubs and trees need to be large and bulky as soon as possible, which means that fast-growing plants are chosen, or they are planted at closer than optimal spacing, or both, resulting in more maintenance later. Instead, I choose smaller ornamental trees such as tree lilacs, stewartias and the like, planted at key points to shade a southern window, mask busy roof lines or tie the house to the ground. Shrubs, both deciduous and evergreen, are then picked to anchor house corners and entry steps, and planted elsewhere as needed to provide mass and form, especially in winter, when the herbaceous plants are gone. With few exceptions, I select compact varieties and forms of shrubs, so as not to cover a window and require regular pruning.

Dwarf conifers are used as well, for the same reason, and for their other qualities of form and needle color. Perennials are used to quickly fill in the other spaces, so that usually within a year after planting the garden is indeed lush and colorful. Herbaceous plants also allow the designer the ability to create interest by the use of color, contrast and repetition, thus pulling a garden together through the season. I tend to mass perennials in swathes of a single type, playing them against other perennials which combine well, and scatter larger species such as Baptisia singly. Contrasting textures can be woven among the different plant forms to create a living tapestry, lovely with or without flowers.

By planting en masse, it is easier to maintain these gardens, as using fewer varieties, but more plants per variety, makes gardening chores more efficient. Salvias or yarrows can be quickly cut back with hedge clippers instead of hand pruners when the first bloom is over. Weeds are also reduced in number (but as any gardener knows, not eliminated), by dense plantings of perennials and ground covers which establish quickly and give weeds less room, soil and light.

A mixed border is also dynamic, as it changes through the seasons. In spring, gardeners eagerly await the emerging green as buds unfurl, and the fresh stalks and stems of perennials begin to appear. In southern New Hampshire (USDA Zone 5a), we can have flowers from late February-early March (Hamamelis, or witch hazel) to Thanksgiving (Daphne caucasicum). In between is a bounty of blossoms, borne on woody plants as well as perennials. Many are chosen for their fragrance, or for later fruit that is attractive to humans and birds alike. Grasses offer texture as well as movement to the garden, as they sway in the slightest breeze. The seedheads of many perennials such as Coneflowers (Echinacea) and Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia) are left for visiting finches in the late summer and fall, and often beyond, as their blackened silhouettes stand stoically above the snow.

Since winter usually lasts here from December to April, plants with winter presence are important. Deciduous trees and shrubs that have a handsome form – whether natural or pruned - can be sublime when their picturesque profiles are viewed against the sky, or their shadows projected against the snow. Bleached grasses, though slowly growing weary and disheveled, become flushed by the fading glow of the day and take on a coppery tone before dark settles. Frost gathers its fragile crystals on damp, cold nights, and glittered stems sparkle briefly in the pale morning sun. Conifers shrug off their mantle of snow, and evergreens offer relief in a world that is often white, black and grey. And when the garden is leafless and still, its soil and sap frozen, we take comfort in the promise that lies within.

Bio of Doug Gagne, APLD

Prior to starting his design/build business in 1984, Doug received a BS in Plant Science from the University of New Hampshire, and then worked for 6 years at Weston Nurseries, which at that time grew New England’s largest variety of hardy plants. His exposure to uncommon woody plants and perennials has led to a continuing interest in blending them into the landscape. Intent to develop a distinctive style, Doug attended John Brookes’ Clockhouse School of Garden Design at Denmans in England, where he learned how to create relationships between built architecture and its natural surroundings in order to make a garden. Other design influences have been Beatrix Farrand, Piet Oudolf, James Van Sweden and Wolfgang Oehme. He became APLD-certified in 2005.

Doug and his wife Kathy own and operate The Mixed Border Nursery and Gardens, composed of a retail nursery offering an eclectic collection of hardy plants, and a landscape design/build firm specializing in residential projects of various sizes. His work has won 2 national awards from the Perennial Plant Association for landscape design and installation featuring hardy herbaceous plants. He enjoys speaking to interested groups on horticultural topics as well as writing.

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