Tightly spaced perennials
I tried searching for a discussion here about this but couldn't find one, though not quite sure what terms to search. If it's been hashed out recently, please say so.
I've seen pics and advice in various places about planting perennial beds with all the plants spaced tightly together, so that no soil or mulch is visible. The argument (I think) is that it keeps weeds out, and removes the need for mulch, because the soil doesn't show anyway. I've seen lots of pretty pics in magazines of these multi-color beds that look so natural, but is it that simple?
Would seem to me that it would take a lot of work to keep one plant from overunning another, and that the water requirement would go up quite a lot, if everything in the bed needed to be watered. Seems like the plants would all be competing for water otherwise, or that the more drought tolerant would win.
And do such beds really keep that many weeds out? I have a bed of ancient thick pachysandra, but tall weeds still grow in it sometimes, though not as often as in bare soil. So it still needs to be weeded.
Just curious what the collective experience has been with these tightly spaced plants. Do folks recommend them?