We can say with reasonable certainty that plant composition in a garden is like art. The combination of colours, the changing of shapes and heights, the movements that are created and give volume to the whole, everything contributes to outer space.
But is it just an “aesthetic” issue? Would we therefore need the expertise of a painter, an artist? Not really: we add that the place, the exposure, the soil, the needs of the different plant species that we insert are also important. We need to know how the roots develop, how best to combine herbaceous, tree and shrub species so that they do not compete among themselves growing together to make the most of the air and underground space available to them.
Plants, we know, are living organisms, they use water, nutrients, they grow, vegetate, root, flower, occupy and explore air and soil; let’s remember this when we decide which plant to place on the terrace or in the garden: let’s evaluate all these things: if it prefers sun, shade or partial shade, if it adapts to small or large containers, or in the ground, if it has an erect, prostrate, creeping or trailing, or interesting autumn colors which, combined with evergreens or other deciduous plants, can color our outdoor space for longer in the year.
The crown – future development. Perhaps one of the most difficult things to predict, for non-experts, if we are talking about shrubs or even more so trees, is to consider that it is necessary to predict their future development. The trees that we have planted in our flowerbed or garden grow: the foliage, the branches, the leaves, the root system will develop: it will therefore be necessary to plan correctly and position them at appropriate distances from the house, or from other buildings, or existing trees, to then avoid having to transplant them or, even worse, cut them down. Even in city avenues it happens that the distances between one tree and another, after 5-6 years we realize that the trees are too close, this is precisely because we have not paid attention to adequate planning.
