Hello Lisa.

Welcome back to another edition of THE PENCIL CASE!  As always, each issue focuses on a theme to encourage a fresh look at garden design and graphics. This week let's discuss drawing evergreen plant symbols in celebration of the upcoming wintery season. ❄

EVERGREEN PLANT SYMBOLS

Before we jump in let's first clarify that an evergreen plant is one that holds its green leaves throughout the year. If you live in a cooler climate such as the US Midwest (like I do), evergreens become an important part of the winter landscape. A beautiful mix of branchy, deciduous plants (that lose their leaves), paired with lovely evergreens can make cooler seasons just as stunning as its summer counterpart. 

.....

When creating a planting design, I strive to have at least 25-35% of my plants evergreen to achieve a nice visual winter balance. A great way to graphically show this in plan view (top view down) is to have a unique plant symbol for evergreens in your planting plan, so they easily stand out.

.....

Please note that I don't create a different plant symbol for every species of plant, but instead have 2-3 plant symbols for deciduous plants and 1-2 for evergreens. This allows me to look at my plan and quickly see the visual balance of deciduous to evergreen plants. There isn't a magic formula....it's all about what feels right.

DRAWING AN EVERGREEN PLANT SYMBOL

There are two types of evergreen plants: needle (very narrow, pointy leaves like conifers) and broadleaf (wider leaves like rhododendrons). Where I live, needle evergreens are more common so I tend to draw plant symbols that look more "pointy", but if you have more broadleaf evergreens, create a softer symbol that best represents those. 

.....

Follow the steps below and take a look at the above video to draw your own evergreen plant symbols. 

-----

1. Lightly draw a circle to the mature width of the plant (use a circle template or some coins).

2. Draw a pattern on top of the circle that you feel best represents your evergreen plant - is it needle-leafed (pointy) or broadleaf (rounded)? The last plant I draw in the video is an example of a broadleaf evergreen.

3. If grouping multiple plants only add texture to the outside of the group (no need for lines on the inside). This will emphasize the mass rather than individual plants.

4. Place a dot (existing) or cross-hair (proposed...think of it as "plus one") in the middle. Some designers flip these....but whatever you do, just be consistent!

5. Now you have some awesome evergreen plants in plan view!

DRAWING PLANT SYMBOL INSPIRATION

Try drawing some plant symbols with this nifty DRAWING PLANT SYMBOLS PRACTICE SHEET.

.....

Here is a post on DEVELOPING YOUR GRAPHIC STYLE so you can celebrate your unique approach to drawing plant symbols.

.....

If you love drawing plant symbols and want to develop additional skills to visually communicate your garden designs I'd love to have you join us in GARDEN GRAPHICS TOOL KIT. Enrollment is open once again in mid-January. Jump on the waiting list and learn more here. An FYI...I only teach this course once a year, so if this feels like the right time, please join us. 

LET'S DO THIS! 

Try drawing a few plant symbols and please share them with me on Instagram or hit reply to this email with a photo. I'd love to see your creations!

.....

If you know someone that needs design inspiration, please feel free to share this newsletter. Anyone can subscribe right here. I also keep a VAULT of past issues in this secret location (we've reorganized the space a bit).

.....

Thanks for letting me visit you this week! 

Until next time...with warmest regards, 

Lisa 

.....

PAPER GARDEN WORKSHOP

Thank you to Mandy Orgler for designing the lovely graphics in all these newsletters.