Came across this yesterday at Westonbirt [The National Arboretum] Gloucestershire England.Thought it may be of interest but wasn't sure where to post it.Andy Goldsworthy makes a living out of creating similar ephemeral arrangements, often with streams and coloured leaves.He also uses pebbles, ice ,snow etc.Many are very beautiful and fascinating.
In a mixed border you can sequence autumn foliages in a similar manner, although in that instance the yellow might be in the center, shading out to the purple at both ends - and using several or more kinds of deciduous shrubs that turn at the same time. Asters, mums and other autumn perennials (and bulbs) can be planted in front of these, in their own color sequence, using additional colors (such as blue) that look good in front of the particular shrub that is behind each drift(s) of perennials.
Several years ago we visited Hadspen garden in Somerset UK which was run from 1989 to 2005 by Canadian gardeners Sandra and Nori Pope. The garden had a long curved high wall, infront of which was a wide herbaceous border.In this they had planted a colour coordinated rainbow of plants, the like of which I had never seen before or since. They knew their plants so well, the way the colours shaded one into another using many 100s of different species and varieties, short ones tall ones, big ones and baby ones. The effect was stunning.It was alive with butterflys and bees. You may know of them, they bred many new varieties. e.g. Hosta Hadspen Blue, Brunnera Hadspen Cream, Astrantia Hadspen Blood etc. When they retired the whole garden was ripped out and a competition was held to design and run the new garden. Very controversial decision. More about this on www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/20/arts/design23.php
An artist friend introduced us to Andy Goldsworthy's books several years ago, can't remember any titles. Do vividly remember sumpteous photos of rivers with pools of colour created with leaves. Luddite
