How to understand plant vigour

Assess and balance competition in a permaculture plant community design

Orange Californian poppy, Eschscholzia californica and purple-blue Chia, Salvia columbariae are annuals competing in a desert superbloom that grows and flowers in spring rains before dying back completely. This community wouldn’t last in a Yorkshire garden - what is the equivalent for your garden?

If there’s one thing I think the gardening world has missed in educating gardeners over the centuries, it’s plant vigour. Without understanding vigour, it’s no wonder gardeners struggle with balancing long term permaculture planting and maintenance.

Importance of vigour to plant community design

The concept of plant community design is to mimic natural processes, planting to replicate the way plants grow in the wild. This is very dependent on your garden’s conditions and what you hope to achieve.

You may be happy with a garden that changes as one plant outcompetes the others. I usually aim for a stable mix of plants that may change over the years, but ultimately all plants added are able to com…