On every blank canvas, an artist must make a crucial decision on exactly how to utilize every inch of space in the most effective way possible. Choosing the right shades of color – both as individual pieces and as combinations of the whole – is a very deliberate choice that most of us understand. This same logic applies to the spaces kept unmarked. Not putting the brush to paper is just as much of a choice as filling the entire canvas. This scenario is a great metaphor when planning one’s garden. Beginners often find themselves with lots of colors clashing together, and lots of plants to fill any void space in their yard. This is not to say that having a bustling garden is necessarily the “wrong” way to plant, but there are some tips to make your favorite pieces stand out rather than overwhelming a passerby’s eyes with too much to take in.
Empty space in a garden gives the gardener so much freedom in choosing the appropriate backdrop (mulch), the best supporting cast (usually greenery and foliage), and finally the main attractions (your favorite colors)! Planting as much as possible to make your garden look full can have the opposite effect. Every pause between plants draws the attention of onlookers to certain pieces in your garden. You’ll free yourself from over-purchasing and instead be forced to use the space you have in an efficient way.
Regardless of how you prefer the aesthetic of your garden, you will save time, money, and effort by going with plants that truly stand out rather than a mixture of things you sort of like.
Besides the benefits to how your garden is perceived, well-spaced plots help you to avoid replacing plants that fall victim to disease and infection from overcrowding. Many tropical plants are known to accrue common yard parasites from being too closely planted. Root systems suffer from sharing nutrients in the soil as well as water. If all of these issues can be avoided while at the same time improving the vibrancy of your garden, it’s a no-brainer that less is certainly more in this case.
In a piece of music, the pauses create tension and the chorus gives us chills. This is the tension and release cycle that we all understand in some form or another. A beautiful garden is that much more gratifying to create or appreciate whenever we are brought through a cycle of uniform emptiness broken by an explosion of color.
