Buddha Garden with Dianella, Ferns, and Ornamental Grasses
I first learned about Dianella from my friend and fellow designer Annie Kelley, when she worked with me on a planting in Santa Cruz. We had the daunting challenge of creating a meditative Asian-style garden, featuring a Buddha, for a Mediterranean-style house with a Mediterranean-style front yard. The small backyard had other issues as well — a large hedge to compete with the border in front of it — and strong patches of sun and shade created by the hedge and house. We solved the various challenges by using grass-like plants, mixing in Phormiums and sun-loving grasses in the hot spots, and Dianella and shade-tolerant Carex in the dark spots. The effect transitioned nicely from the sunny Mediterranean front yard, providing the unity and serenity of muted green and burgundy leaves for the backyard. It also provided a suitable setting for the Buddha without imitating Zen or Japanese-style gardens, which would have clashed with the home’s architecture.
Close-up of berries from Dianella sandwicensis. Image by Kim and Forest Starr.
One of the key plants we used was Dianella tasmanica. Its long strappy leaves provide it with a grass-like appearance, but it has two features that set it apart from ornamental grasses.
The first is its preference for shade, even deep shade–such as that cast by a house or dense shrubs–which few plants tolerate well, and the second is the striking metallic blue berries which appear in heavy clusters after the delicate, almost indistinct blue flowers fade. The berries last for several months.
Then last year, when working on an entryway planting against a black background, I was looking for a grass that could tolerate shade and blend well with daylilies. No grasses came to mind, but I remembered Dianella and it worked beautifully.
When I moved to Hawaii, I was surprised to see a planting of Dianella at the entryway to the Maui Nui Botanical Gardens.
Entry Planting with Dianella
The label gave the Hawaiian name as “Uki uki,” and it was thick, lush, and fully shaded. I was even more surprised to find an equally healthy planting in full sun on the grounds at Ho’olawa Farms Native Plant Nursery in Haiku. I learned from the staff there that the Hawaiian native, Dianella sandwicensis, unlike its Tasmanian relative, thrives in sun or shade. It has the same blue berries and deep green strappy leaves, but is more versatile in its tolerance for light.
Finding low border plants that can exist happily in both shade and sun is rare. To create long, unified borders that move through both kinds of light conditions, or borders that wrap around a garden–and therefore have different light exposures–is a real gift to garden designers. So the next time you’re looking for a plant that plays well with others (ferns, grasses, daylilies and other low-growing perennial flowers), consider the versatile–and native–Dianella. It’s a subtle, but elegant addition to any yard.
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