Photo credit, "Plant by Number," Julie Siegal, Fine Gardening.
"Like the guards at Buckingham Palace, the number two conveys formality. Two plants tend to divide your eye, so this number works best when used like sentries to mark both sides of an entrance or passageway. Trees and shrubs are easy to use in pairs, but perennials are more challenging. Some of the larger perennials and ornamental grasses work well in a pair, as do some annuals and tender perennials."
I've heard a fast rule about landscaping—ones, threes, or fives, never two plants!
While working with landscape architect Tim Borden in creating a design for a section of Wildewood, my view enlarged. Context and overall design influences selection and placement. Here's an article that invites thinking openly about numbers in landscape design. Siegal writes about each number using these headings.
One is not the loneliest number.
Two signals formality.
Three is a charm.
Four works best divided.
Five is pleasing to the eye.
Six is two sets of three.
Seven and more becomes a mass.
