How many plants does it take to create a beautiful flowerbed?

39 plants call this spot home. This flower bed is 7 feet wide by 15 feet long. After way too many years of over planting and not giving my green friends enough room to grow, I now finally measure the area that I am planting and draw a map of where the plants will go so I have a clear picture of how much space each green friend needs.


5 dwarf pomegranates
5 barberry
5 heavenly bamboo
8 drought tolerant perennials w/purple flowers
3 yarrow
1 smoke bush
12 small variegated grass

I have worked and reworked this flower bed these past eight years. It has a terrible crabgrass problem, but I just keep pulling, planting and adding bark. For now I love it and am grateful all of the plants are doing so well. Dottie loves it too!