Home Gardening Inspiration: Patterns in Your Garden

The Missouri Botanical Garden’s newest art exhibition, Patterns in Nature: The Art of HYBYCOZO, sparks inspiration for artists across mediums, including gardeners. Justine Kandara, a Horticulturist with the William T. Kemper Center for Home Gardening, shares some insight on how to bring patterns to your garden.

For centuries, gardeners and landscapers have cleverly found ways to create visible patterns using plants.

*A contrasting pattern uses warm Coneflower, Echinacea ‘Balsombabur’ in the Swift Family Garden. Photo by Tom Incrocci.*

Some of the earliest geometric planting designs can trace their origins to ancient Egypt and Persia, where walled gardens filled with fruiting trees and aromatic plants such as jasmine and lilies were symbols of power.

*The Victorian District draws inspiration from the formal French and English Gardens. Photo by Cassidy Moody.*

Formal French and English garden designs also use repeating shapes, motifs, and clean lines to convey a sense of grandeur.

Smaller-scale home gardens and naturalistic gardens can still draw from geometric patterns by incorporating repetition into planting designs or using straight lines to guide the eye through a space.

*Horticulturists use succulents to create distinct lines and patterns in the Victorian District. Photo by Claire Cohen.*

Planting in groups of three or more and repeating the same plants across a large bed can help create a cohesive, visually pleasing design. Colors, textures, and shapes can also be repeated, even in potted plantings.

*Group plantings can create patterns even in prairie gardens. Photo by Robert Schmidt.*

*Potted plants are displayed by the Entrance to the Children’s Garden and the Plant Lab at the Brookings Exploration Center. Photo by Tom Incrocci.*

Of course, you can also enjoy some patterns in your garden on a smaller scale by using the naturally occurring patterns found in plants.

Snake’s Head Fritillary or guinea-hen flower (Fritillaria meleagris)

*Snake’s head fritillary, Fritillaria meleagris. Photo by Tom Incrocci.*

*Snake’s head fritillary, Fritillaria meleagris. Photo by Kent Burgess.*

Fritillaria Meleagris has a unique checkerboard pattern on its delicate, nodding flowers. The genus name is from the Latin word fritillus, meaning dice box, a reference to the checkerboard pattern on the petals.

Genus Trillium

*Wood lily, Trillium luteum. Photo by Tom Incrocci.*

*Trillium blooming at Shaw Nature Reserve. Photo by Matalida Adams.*

Many trillium species have mottled patterns on their three, leaf-like bracts. Trilliums emerge in spring, and the mottling on their bracts may help them to camouflage in the dappled sunlight of the forest floor and escape the notice of herbivores such as deer.

Nerve Plant or Mosaic Plant (Fittonia albivenis)

*Mosaic plant or nerve plant on display in the Climatron. Photo by Claire Cohen.*

Crossing veins and lines form a net-like or mosaic pattern on the leaves of Fittonia albivenis. Botanists call these patterns “reticulate”. As a houseplant, nerve plant is commonly grown in terrariums where it enjoys the increased humidity. You can also spot it throughout the Climatron.

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