Garden design elements put together

Height The plant heights in this garden range from very short in front to very tall in back...a good design choice!

Color This Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) provides a pop of color contrast in a largely monochromatic garden.

Texture The relative texture of plants provides a lot of visual interest, especially in a garden with a lot of green. This plant's coarse texture creates a nice contrast to other plants in this garden.

Color This garden is largely monochromatic, but uses a lot of shades of green.

Texture This plant has medium texture relative to other plants in this garden.

Texture This plant has fine texture relative to others in this garden.

Texture, height, and color This Nicotiana provides a pop of intense color, a tall background for the other plants, and a fine texture relative to the chard in front of it. Combining it with the other plants that have different textures and harmonious colors contributes to this visually interesting garden.

Texture This plant, Swiss chard, has a very coarse texture compared to the rest of the plants in this garden.

Height A range of short, medium, and tall plants planted in that order from front to back lets us see the best parts of all of them.

Color This garden has a vibrant range of harmonious, warm colored flowers unified by the green that all the plants share.

Texture This plant has fine texture relative to the other plants in this grouping.

Climbing This Malabar spinach (Basella alba, not related to spinach, but also edible) has a climbing habit or form, which makes it perfect for climbing up a trellis or, in this case, a decorative obelisk.

Upright This mint plant has an upright, somewhat vase-shaped form.

Mounded This sage has a low, mounded form.

You can always rely on Swiss chard to add amazing texture to a garden design. Even in containers there is so much potential!

Remember, not everything has to be edible. These ornamental grasses provide a great texture contrast to these mixed containers.

These ornamental peppers hav a medium texture relative to the other plants in these grouped containers, and the color of the fruits goes well with the red ribs and veins of the red chard.

This ornamental Euphorbia adds a light texure and a pop of white color - reflecting the white in the ribs and veins of some of the chard plants.

A bamboo teepee adds height to the garden even before it is covered with beans.

Loads of texture! Coarse-textured Swiss chard, medium-textured zinnias, fine-textured dill in the background.

The repetition of the color yellow and pink helps unify this design.

Low-growing thyme is great for the front edges of garden beds.