Hopefully some grasses and gray-leaved plants can carry the perennial flag for fall. Good time to build a compost pile, throwing in some decent garden soil to facilitate the breakdown. The work of Wolfgang Oehme and James van Swede has revolutioned the sensibility of American gardening. From set piece, highly controlled arrangements of a few species, they led the charge towards a picturesque diversity. Here are some excerpts.
Planting design begins with the structural elements of trees and shrubs.
These establish the garden's framework of canopy and edges, screen views, subdivide the space, provide focal points, and set forth lines of flow. The second stage of design fills in the ground plane with predominantly herbaceous perennials. They return from the dead each year to amaze us with their prodigious growth. A landscape without herbaceous plants is unnatural, because it is isolated from the rhythm and energy of the seasons. . . . No garden scene remains the same over time.