Sheer Intrigue
by Janet Davis

Use plants that have airy, see-through flowers and stems as scrims and screens to add texture, drama, and a hint of mystery to the garden.

Most gardeners understand the importance of creating a bed or border around plant characteristics such as color, height, and shape. These, after all, are the sturdy building blocks of successful garden design. But there’s another, more ethereal quality shared by a relatively small roster of plants that makes them ideal for adding movement, light, and even a sense of mystery to a planting scheme.

These are the “see-through” or “scrim” plants. In theater parlance, a scrim is a gauzy, transparent curtain that allows the audience to see through it to a scene being played out in the background. In garden design, it defines a plant that fulfills its own role while letting viewers look through it to other plants or distant corners of the garden. See-through plants can also be used to create seasonal effects; for instance, serving as a partial screen around a patio or pool in summer, to soften but not completely obscure the view.…

Herbaceous Perennials

Perennials with tall, branching stems topped with cloudlike inflorescences composed of numerous tiny flowers are excellent to use as gauzy screens.

Giant kale (Crambe cordifolia), with its coarse basal leaves and tiny white flowers held aloft on airy stems is one; lime-loving baby’s breath (Gypsophila paniculata) with its masses of tiny, white, summer flowers is another; and false aster (Boltonia asteroides) topped with small, white daisies in early fall is a third.

These plants look lovely screening other perennials, of course, but really sparkle in front of dark-leaved shrubs such as the ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius) cultivar ‘Monlo’ (Diabolo®) or purple smoke bush (Cotinus coggygria ‘Purpurea’).

Of the many meadow rues (Thalictrum spp.) with loose panicles of tiny blossoms, two of the best see-throughs are T. rochebruneanum and T. delavayi ‘Hewitt’s Double’. Though the latter might lean a little without staking, the effect of its small pink or white flowers twinkling in front of other early summer shade-lovers such as astilbe is magical.

For midsummer effect, try gaura (Gaura lindheimeri), a native of the American Southwest beloved for the fluttery effect of its white and pink flowers, held above the foliage on arching stems. Excellent cultivars include ‘Crimson Butterflies’ (two to four feet with crimson flowers) and ‘Whirling Butterflies’ (two to three feet with white flowers).…

Grasses

Ornamental grasses with tall, wispy inflorescences can be dramatic scrim plants, responding to the smallest breeze with constant movement and swishing sound. Among the best are the tall moor grass cultivars (Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea) ‘Skyracer’ and ‘Transparent’, whose strong but slender stems and airy flowers make a delicate veil and a delightful foil to summer daisies such as false oxeye (Heliopsis helianthoides) and sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale).

The zingy little flowers and seeds of native switch grass (Panicum virgatum) are constantly in motion and look lovely screening the big, bold flowers of swamp hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos). Similarly, the airy flowers of prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis) make a lively, textural scrim for other prairie natives, such as pink-flowered Echinacea purpurea.

Bulbs and Annuals

ulbs and annuals can also have a see-through effect. Drumstick allium (Allium sphaerocephalon) is a hardy summer bulb with spherical, crimson flowers on bobbing stems. ‘Lucifer’ crocosmia (Crocosmia 5crocosmiiflora) bears numerous scarlet flowers on arching stems in early to midsummer. A more unusual choice is fairy wand or angel’s fishing rod (Dierama pulcherrimum…

Photo credit: Photos by Janet Davis

If you are an AHS member, you can read this article in its entirety,click here.

If you are not an AHS member and would like to join, click here.