The Best Kept Secret Gardening Rule You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Are you struggling to create a garden that looks pretty all year round? Choosing plants that will bring timeless beauty to the garden is hard. Many gardens shine in summer but then look empty, dull, and lifeless the rest of the year. This is where the 70/30 rule comes in. It was proposed by Piet Oudolf, celebrated as one of the most influential garden designers in the world. It proposes that roughly 70% of the garden should be dedicated to planting long-lived structural plant species that provide visual appeal in every season. 

They act as the backbone of the garden design with their extensive foliage and stems, providing visual interest well into fall and winter months. Meanwhile, the remaining 30% should be used to grow short-lived seasonal filler plants for a balanced garden. These filler species will bring flashes of color and periodic blooms. And even though their beauty is short-term, they bring energy to the garden and make the garden's composition lively and vibrant.

If you want to try the 70/30 rule in your garden, start by sorting the plants you want to add into two groups. The first group should be the "matrix" or structure plants. They are the ones that will look good even when they are not blooming. On the other hand, the second group is your "scatter" or filler plants. They will act as the seasonal stars to keep things feeling fresh. Also, you should keep a palette of structure plants small and simple. They can include ornamental grasses or perennials that bloom for a long time. Once you have finalized these, place them in broad, sweeping drifts that cover nearly 70% of the garden. 

Following that, add in some patches of filler plants to cover the remaining 30% space. There are many popular herbs that make the perfect filler plants for gardens. Maintenance in such designs is really all about timing and tweaking. You need to pull out or trim any filler plants that start appearing messy, but only trim or prune the structural plants while they stay in their place and hold the design together.

All that 70/30 intends to do is to help you choose the right type of plants and keep your garden looking good throughout the year. For instance, landscape designers, even when following the 70/30 rule, will often tweak the 70/30 split to fit local conditions. So, depending on where you live, you can also change it a notch to adjust for the climate and space you are working with. For example, if you are working with city plots or areas surrounded by asphalt, you might want to shift the ratio towards structural plants instead of fillers. 

And interestingly, the 70/30 rule is also often used as a design principle as well as for preparing a perfect topsoil and compost mix. In design principle, the aim is to have 70% softscape elements, such as plants and vegetation, and 30% hardscape elements like paths, patios, and structural features. Meanwhile, in soil mix, it creates a perfect blend of structural soil with plenty of nutrients.