I like planting aggressive plants when it isn’t certain whether the landscape is going to get careful maintenance, or whether plants that fail will be replaced. And I like combining aggressive plants when I’m not too certain of which one is best adapted to the site conditions, or when I want a very full planting and am interested in giving up some control.
But I’m thinking, I guess, of a somewhat different situation, one in which two rough characters are fighting it out for roughly the same niche. Say, allegheny spurge and mayapple. (I realize that by monster movie aggression standards, this would be Bambi vs. Bambi.) Plant ‘em together, in separate groups or in a matrix, and stand back. If one fails, we’ve got the other. In not, will they mingle or form solid stands? Will one edge toward a brighter area, the other towards a damper area?
Some of my favorite found examples of this are mixed vines on a wall. Somehow both Virginia Creeper and English Ivy end up on the same wall, and the play of texture and color, shifting throughout the year, become more interesting than either planted, as it would no doubt prefer, alone.
Deborah Howe
Toby Wolf
