Flowerbeds

In a street not far from my home, I notices a few workers that prepared a new flowerbed. I came back later, when the flowerbed was finished, and I observed the work. There was a row of red-leaved Prunus pissardii, each surrounded by a square fringed with the white and yellow Gazania nivea. The square was muclhed white gravel. It was nice, with interesting plants, with a good design. An yet I felt a little uncomfortable. What will this flowerbed look in a year? Apart that this type of flowerbed needs intensive and constant maintenance (in particular weeding), it is designed in a way that if the plants grow too much they will destroy the pretty design of the flowerbed. If Prunus grows it will shade the underlying … and if the Gazania grow too much the spacing mong the tufts will disappear, leaving an horrible mess where was elegant order. A garden where plants cannot grow is dead – this flowerbed is a piece of furniture, not a true garden.

Gilles Clément, the French landscape designer, says that we should as much as possible with, as little as possible without. More generally we should have the biggest result with the lowest effort. These flowerbed get a good result with an huge effort.