Designing for Impact With
Mass Plantings

Mass planting is when you choose one variety, like Vintage Jade Distylium above, and plant multiple together in one space. Whether it’s 5, 10, 15, or more, mass plantings provide a bold impact to your landscape with large swaths of color and texture. Mass planting also simplifies care and maintenance for you, as you only have to take care of one plant variety in that space, not multiple. Talk about a win-win scenario! Following are some of our favorite places to employ mass planting techniques that you can try at home.

Spice Up Large Open Spaces

Maybe you have a big space in your backyard that you’re not quite sure what to do with. Plant some shrubs with multi-season interest, like Superstar® Spirea. Its bold colors in the summer and fall will make that space interesting to the eye no matter the time of year. Sprinkle in some grasses for contrasting textures and colors to make an even bigger impact.

Enhance a Pathway

Mass plantings along a path are a great way to draw the eye along that path naturally. Something like Cool Splash® Dwarf Bush Honeysuckle with its beautiful, variegated leaves is a great option. Try adding pops of color with different annuals each year. The mass planting will provide you with a great canvas to work with each year.

Deer-Resistant Borders

Deer-resistant landscape design and mass plantings can easily go hand in hand. Use a deer-resistant plant, like Tiger Eyes® Cutleaf Sumac as a border to a large space home to plants that are more desirable to deer. Tiger Eyes® will look bold and beautiful in your landscape while protecting those more vulnerable plants. Learn more about designing with deer-resistant plants here.

Wow Factor Row Plantings

If you have a large space next to your fence, house, or property boundary that needs a little something, plant Strawberry Sundae® Panicle Hydrangeas in a row for some wow factor! These hydrangeas look stunning alone, but they cannot be missed when planted en masse.

First Editions® has tons of great plants to choose from for your mass planting project. Browse through the following options to learn more about each option and its unique characteristics.