The Layered Planting Approach That Designers Say Will Make Your Garden Look Expensive By Summer
For a designer-look backyard your neighbors will be copying, this height-focused trick is all you need to know
A designed-looking backyard is, understandably, something many of us aspire to. It's all about using layered planting to make a garden look expensive. And getting that lush, well-thought-out look without a designer is actually more achievable than you might imagine.
if you've ever wondered why your backyard is firmly refusing to give expensive designer vibes, there is one key place to look for answers. And that is up. When your outdoor space is based on a two-dimensional design, in other words, when the majority of the planting is at, or near, ground level, it will literally make your space look flat. And flat means unadventurous, lacking in interest and, quick frankly, cheap.
Here I'll share my garden design tips for how to layer plants on a patio and beyond – to beds, borders and shaded woodland areas. Once you get the hang of it and embrace that magical, lush-looking third dimension of garden design, I promise you'll never look back. And your garden will appear instantly high end. Truly, the only way is up…
What is Layered Planting?
Simply put, layered planting means using height in your planting schemes. Height gives an extra dimension of interest. Vertical layering in small yards make them appear larger, brings privacy and introduces a feeling of lushness and intimacy that can't be achieved by hard landscaping elements such as bare pergolas and arches alone.
But layered planting is also more than that. It's a technique that copies nature by creating an understorey of plants near ground level, then higher up with larger mid-level shrubs and perennials; above them you give your garden a woodland canopy of trees and climbers reaching to the sky. The effect is cocooning, packed with interest (from both foliage form and flowers) and instantly gives a backyard a high-end appeal.
That's not to say good pergolas ideas don't have a role to play in layered planting. I believe they certainly do. But they are the support acts rather than the starring role, which must be reserved exclusively for your plants.
Next I'll guide you through the different planting layers, what they can achieve in your garden and some hand-picked star performers I use to create that lush, expensive layered effect – and which will work wonders in your yard, in time for summer too.
Buy the Outsunny Grape Trellis pergola at Target
The Ground Cover Layer
Bare soil is a no-no if you want your garden to look lush and designed, and ground cover plants will do exactly as the name suggests, knitting together to form a textured mat of color and interest.
The benefits of low-growing ground cover plants and creeping varieties that gently spread out horizontally, are many. including blocking out weeds, retaining moisture and preserving the structure of your soil. They can be mounding, upright, trailing, deciduous or evergreen and there are literally hundreds to choose from.
Here are just a few of my favourites for sun:
Creeping thyme USDA Zones 5-9
Low cushions of color with silvered leaves and summer flowers the bees adore. Of course, it's edible too.
Must have: sharply draining soil and full sun
Lady's mantle (Alchemilla mollis) USDA Zones 3-8
Tough but delicate looking, with felted scallop-shaped leaves and, in summer, sprays of zesty yellow-green flowers that last for weeks.
Copes with: clay soil and a degree of shade
Mexican fleabane (Erigeron karvinskianus) USDA Zones 3-10
A brilliant little daisy in pink and white that will self seed all over. Great in pots or for edging a path or sunny border.
Must have: full sun and well-drained soil
And for shadier spots:
Lungwort (Pulmonaria) USDA Zones 3-9
Speckled leaves and tubular early-spring flowers in shades of pink and purple that are a great early nectar source for bees.
Must have: part shade and good soil
Barrentwort (Epimedium) USDA Zones 4-8
Tough, yet airy ground cover with heart-shaped leaves that turn rich shades in fall, and oh-so-pretty nodding spring flowers in yellow, white, pink or orange.
Copes with: pretty much anything
Japanese spurge (Pachysandra terminalis) USDA Zones 4-9
An excellent evergreen spreading ground cover for shade, just a foot tall with glossy green rosettes, and small white flowers in early summer.
Copes with: fairly deep shade
And a special mention to:
Hardy geraniums USDA Zones 3-9
Available in a huge range of colours and forms, these are one of my favourite backyard plants. Some thrive in sun, others will cope with quite a bit of shade, and they flower from May right through until September or even beyond.
Buy creeping thyme at Nature Hills Nursery
Shop for lady's mantle at Nature Hills Nursery
Buy Twinkle Toes lungwort at Nature Hills Nursery
Buy Frohnleiten barrenwort at Nature Hills Nursery
Shop for Japanese spurge at Nature Hills Nursery
The Mid-Level Layer
This section of layered planting begins at knee height and travels up to around eye level. So I'm talking most of those fabulous flowering perennials we all know and love (irises, salvias, globe thistle, heleniums), tall ornamental grasses and plant-and-forget shrubs and small trees like choisya, hydrangeas, philadelphus, Japanese maples and so many more. These are essential to a full, polished-looking garden scheme.
While your ground cover plants are best placed towards the front of beds and borders, alongside pathways and either in smaller pots or as edging to larger pots, the mid-section plants will be the ones you'll plant in the middle or at the back of beds and borders to give a lush, tiered effect to your planting.
While it's a good general rule to place tallest plants at the back and gradually taper down to smallest plants at the front of a border, remember that rules are made to be broken too. So break things up here and there to avoid an overly ordered look.
Here are some reliable performers for sun:
Mock orange (Philadelphus) USDA Zones 4-8
Gorgeously scented shrub to around head height, with white flowers in early summer.
Tip: plant near a patio to be cocooned in scent.
Sea holly (Eryngium) USDA Zones 3-9
Spiky steel blue/silver flowers on a handsome plant.
Tip: leave them standing over winter for interest and insect habitat
Switch grass (Panicum) USDA Zones 3-9
Really useful, group of tall, swaying ornamental grasses with cloud-like summer flowers – use them to knit together the flowering plants in your borders.
And for shadier spots:
Hydrangeas USDA Zones 3-9
Great for reliably moist soil in semi shade, and a huge range to choose from. They'll flower from July to November.
Foxgloves (Digitalis) USDA Zones 4-9
Dramatic exclamation marks of height in borders in semi shade; weave them generously through your yard.
Japanese anemones USDA Zones 4-8
Absolutely brilliant later-season colour, in shades of white and pink, from August to October, on impressively large plants.
Some of these mid-layer plants will need a little help to stay upright, so genning up on plant support tips is wise. In short, remember to put in grow-through plant supports for perennials such as peonies, phlox, leucanthemum and dahlias. Do this in mid spring for the best results. Single stakes are best for tall, single-stem plants like sunflowers, and delphiniums.
Shop mock orange at Nature Hills.
Buy Blue Glitter sea holly at Nature Hills Nursery
Shop Endless Summer hydrangeas at Trees & Plants
Buy September Charm Japanese anemones at Nature Hills
Shop plant stakes and ties at Lowes
The Canopy Level
Look up and this is where your vital canopy planting begins. It's your third dimension, and the section that will make a small garden appear larger, and any backyard lusher, more interesting and more polished.
Here I'm talking trees, large shrubs and climbers, even climbing plants that thrive on neglect. Roses, wisteria, silver birch, clematis, vines of every color and form. Don't be afraid to be bold, even in small spaces. The most diminutive of backyards has room for a tree such as an amelanchier or a crab apple, where height is absolutely essential.
Low-maintenance small trees can be placed towards the back of borders, larger climbers used to clothe fences and drape over pergolas and arches, while smaller climbers such as clematis are brilliant used as upright focal points trained over obelisks in borders.
In sun, try one of these:
Wisteria USDA Zones 5-9
The most elegant of climbing plants, dripping with pale purple flowers in late spring.
Tip: prune twice a year, in winter and spring
Climbing rose USDA Zones 5-9
Over an arch or a pergola, this cottage-garden stalwarts are hard to beat.
Copes with: heavier soils
Silver birch (Betula) USDA Zones 2-7
A lovely small tree with beautiful bark, ideal for creating dappled shade in smaller backyards.
Tip: create a mini copse with a group of three or five planted closely together
And in a shadier spot:
Clematis USDA Zones 4-9
So many varieties and colors to choose from, but most prefer to have their roots in shade.
Tip: try growing through a shrub for double the colour
Star magnolia (Magnolia stellata) USDA Zones 4-9
Delicate white flowers that appear on bare stems in early spring, and graceful spreading branches
Tip: underplant with spring bulbs
Climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea petiolaris) USDA Zones 4-9
Gorgeous airy cream-white flowers in summer, perfect on a wall or fence.
Copes with: fairly deep shade
Buy Amethyst Falls wisteria at Perfect Plants
Shop for New Dawn climbing rose at Nature Hills
Buy birch trees at Nature Hills
Buy trellis panels for your clematis from Home Depot
I hope you've been inspired to treat your backyard to the magical tiered upgrade that will give it that quietly polished, professional look. It's certainly not hard to do.
Just remember to place the taller plants towards the back of borders and smaller ones nearer the front, without being too rigid about it (you don't want to end up with borders that look like rows of seating at the opera).
Get your plants in now and you'll have privacy, lushness and flowers by summer.
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