Combo-making Tip from eGardenGo: Celebrate Differences and Find Common Ground

The most engaging planting combinations are able to strike a delicate balance between having enough different-ness to capture our attention versus enough same-ness to hold the scene together. When considering the extremes, we can easily see how too much variety can feel jarring and chaotic, and how too much sameness can lead us down a path to ho-hum. Just like Goldilocks, we're striving for "just right" — and even then, there's an enormous range of possibilities, so it can be helpful to know what kind of feeling or mood you're trying to evoke.

Compare the mood of the trio up top to the ambiance of the trio shown here where the use of varied foliage shape and texture within a narrow color palette of green foliage accented with white variegation lends an overall quiet and soothing vibe. The simply satisfying effect of this trio is reliant on the markedly different shape and size of the leaves, and the thread of white that is woven through the scene; the fine lines of white variegation sparkling on the grass are echoed in the irregular splotches of white on the big and bold gray-green leaves. These lighter tones are especially handsome in proximity to the glossy, deep green foliage.