planting design

May is such an exuberant month, the garden is bursting with potential for the summer, colour and interest revealed at every turn, and personally my favourite month in the garden. May is also the perfect time to start planning your planting schemes as the garden centres and nurseries are fully stocked with new arrivals. So here are my three golden rules for planting design.

Structure

Key to good planting design is having a clear theme and narrative, ask yourself, what is the story or feeling that you want to convey in your new border? So, think carefully about the look and then consider the colour scheme, both floral and foliage.

Start with the bigger planting first, trees and shrubs, as these create the backdrop to your scheme both in terms of height and volume. Perennials create interest in the foreground, varying the height here can create additional interest and visual depth.

Use repetition to provide unity and overall cohesion to your scheme, as the saying goes, less is more, so by having fewer varieties of plants but repeating them you will create a more unified scheme. And never forget to consider where you will be viewing your planting from, the front, the side or even from behind.

Contrast

Contrast is key to providing interest in your scheme, and that interest can take many forms including flowers, foliage, stems, buds, texture, leaf shape and fruits. Contrast is the happy mixing of things which are different and yet related.

Some of my favourite contrasts are that of texture and colour, so for example in my main border I have repeated clipped box cones in amongst groups of grasses and perennials, soft and fluffy contrasting with clean and sharp. The box also provides the repeated structure and winter interest, the grasses provide textural interest whilst the perennials provide colour throughout the flowering season.

Succession

Planning seasonal interest can be one of the more challenging elements to get right in a planting scheme. The bigger your patch, the greater the scope to develop all year seasonal interest. The smaller your plot, the harder your plants need to work, and the more important it is to design in succession.

One of my favourite hard-working plants is Amelanchier canadensis, which is a superb tree for providing a range of interest from early April as the buds begin to open, with glossy copper shoots very quickly followed by delicate pale cream baubles of flowers. The young leaves turn green during spring to provide lovely, dappled shade through the summer before turning bright russet in the autumn alongside the bright pink berries, which are adored by the local bird population,

To make the most of your trips to the garden centre this year, have your planting plan to hand to help guide your plant choices.