KTRH GardenLine Newsletter

February 2, 2007

Here's Randy's Weekly KTRH GardenLine Tip:

Issue #4

VISUAL PROOF OF RANDY'S COLOR-TIERING TECHNIQUE

In my book, Gulf Coast Gardening with Randy Lemmon, I dedicated an entire section in the chapter on shrubs to "color-tiering." My theory behind color-tiering, for those who don't have the book, is to use the color differences in the leaves of many of our standard landscaping shrubs in order to create striking color differences in the landscape. Thus, saving you buckets of money on "adding color pockets" -- flat after flat of annuals, season after season.

While the book is not chock full of pictures (which helped keep the price down below 20 bucks) mainly as a means to keep it more as a "rule book" for this area's landscaping, I did stumble across a couple of pictures I shot of my own landscape (one from the front yard and one from the back yard) to give you a general idea of how well color-tiering works.

This first picture shows a three-tier system, with Texas Wax Myrtles in the back, Lorapetalum in the middle and Aztec Grass in the front. That way, you get standard green in the back, maroon-ish/purple with striking fuchsia flowers in the middle and a cream-green fan look in the front. In this instance, there are plenty of color differences to keep the landscape attractive year-round, without adding loads of color flats.

The second picture has kind of a two-fold color-tiering going on. In the fore front of the picture you'll notice a barren area, which is where my small regular color pockets would go. But because there is no "color" in that space, the other plants have to stand alone with their color differences. In the fore front of the picture are Coppertone Loquats up against the house and some striking Nandinas in the front. If you look towards the background, you'll see Aztec Grass in the foreground and ultimately a Sago Palm and Crape Myrtle in the ultimate background along with the Nandinas and Coppertones.

Ultimately, the point I want to re-emphasize is that with the proper planting of shrubs and ground covers with differing color schemes, you can really create a striking landscape with color variations that don't just come from consistent re-hashing of color flats. Let me know of your combination of color-tiering plants, and if you are truly proud of your creations, send us a picture as well. It could be the incentive we need to start a color-tiering landscape gallery on the GardenLine web page. If you've never tried color-tiering with landscape plants, I hope this stirs your creative juices as we get close to the spring planting season.

Until then, here's to great gardening from the GardenLine, heard exclusively weekend mornings 6 to 10 on Saturdays and 7 to 10 Sunday mornings on NewsRadio 740 KTRH.

GardenLine Listeners and E-mail Tip Subscribers can purchase a copy of my new book at discounted price! Check it out!
"Gulf Coast Gardening with Randy Lemmon"
Garden retailers interested in stocking the book, should call the Nitro Phos Warehouse at 713-228-1868 for wholesale ordering information.

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