Threes

I like to arrange in groups of three, which is not necessarily surprising since it’s a fairly common design theme.

Interior designers have long touted the “rule of three” as a tried potsand true method to create harmony, depth and interest. I’m constantly moving pots around and frequently find them in groups of three.

But it is the ubiquity of threes in the garden that are lately catching my eye. Here are a few recent pictures where I had nothing to do with how three plants (or three blooms, leaves or stems) decided to arrange themselves.

mahonia

Mahonia x media ‘Charity’ (Oregon Grape hybrid)

Iris tenax

Iris tenax

Trillium ovatum

Trillium ovatum

tiarella trifoliata leaves

tiarella trifoliata leaves

hellebore

Hellebore leaves

 

Bug’s Eye View

Nature will bear the closest inspection. She
Invites us to lay our eyes level with her
Smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its
Plain.
—Thoreau

ajuga leaf

Ajuga leaves

scented geranium

Scented Geranium

vine

Scarlet Chilean Glory Vine (Ecremocarpus scaber ‘Scarlet’)

leaf

Primula seiboldii

The universe is a continuous web.
Touch it at any point and the whole web quivers…

…At my touch the wild braid of creation trembles.

— Stanley Kunitz

Room for a White Garden?

While writing a previous post I stumbled on this blog created by eight employees of the Sissinghurst Castle Gardens in Kent England, part of the UK National Trust, which has been protecting historic green spaces since 1864.

Yucca Bloom

Yucca bloom in my garden

The gardens contain Vita Sackville-West’s famous white garden.

The Sissinghurst gardners wrote that  “…the concept of an actual white garden, or Vita’s ‘Grey garden’ was not properly conceived until 1939. This is when Vita imagines a garden full of white, silver and green plants…”

Their post got me thinking about what was blooming white in my own garden.

Yucca1

Yucca

hydrangea

White hydrangea

Hydrangea serrata 'Shiro Fuji'

Hydrangea serrata ‘Shiro Fuji’

Primula seiboldii

Primula seiboldii

Clematis 'Huldine'

Clematis ‘Huldine’