Planting Design

The choice of plants available from even the smallest garden centre is now very wide. And this represents only a small proportion of plants available from specialist nurseries. However, unless you are a 'plantaholic', a problem many of us suffer from, you will still find enough choice from the readily available range in your garden centre.

The key is to decide on the look you want - cottage, modern, colour-themed, all year round interest. You might want to consider how much time you want to spend maintaining the garden as the choice of planting scheme can have an impact. The completed scheme will have a structure provided by trees and shrubs, a texture provided by the various shapes and sizes of leaves and colour not only from flowers but also leaves, stems and bark.

The planting plan I provide will take this into account along with soil conditions, the local climate and whether the border is in sun or shade. Particularly in small gardens I try to choose plants which give 'value'. A couple of weeks of flowers, however brilliant a display, may not be enough. There are plenty of plants which have not only attractive flowers but also leaves which colour in the autumn, colourful fruits and berries, interesting bark and plants which flower for a long period of time. There is always room for personal favourites but overall you want plants which will 'perform' for a large part of the year.