Planting

With thousands of plants to choose form, this is one of the hardest parts of finalising any garden design.
Before deciding on any sort of planting pattern, there are some basic practical rules you should adopt when choosing the plants for your garden.

Check with the plant supplier on the suitability of any particular species to your own local conditions and you should take into account the following:

Climatic conditions

Plants must be suitable for your climate. For example, don’t choose delicate plants if your site is windy and subject to hard frosts.

Conditions can vary considerably and altitude is an important factor as generally, the higher you are, the more the temperature drops.

The climate in urban areas and cities can be warmer allowing more tender plants to grow.

Soil conditions

Plants must suit the soil so you will need to test it to ensure you are choosing the right variety. It is a good idea to test it in various parts of your garden as it may vary. Many plants prefer neutral to slightly acidic soils whilst others such as heathers, rhododendrons and camellias prefer acidic conditions.

Garden soil should be fertile and well drained but also able to retain a certain amount of moisture.

Soil can be improved enormously by adding organic matter but you will find it much easier to grow plant suited to the particular soil in your garden rather than trying to alter the soil fundamentally to suit particular plants you want to grow.

Sun and Shade conditions

Look at the way the sun moves around the garden note the areas that are sunny and shady and position plants accordingly. There are varying degrees of shade and large trees or bushes will create their own shade so careful consideration needs to be given.

The aspect of your garden will also play a part as south facing gardens will generally be warmer and will bring on growth in early spring.

Scale

Take a note of potential size of plants (i.e. the width and height) when they are fully grown. Whilst smaller plants can be moved, it is not a good idea to continually be moving larger shrubs and bushes because they have been planted too close together.

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Planting Patterns

Once you have established the types of plants that will flourish in your local conditions, you will need to decide on the kind of look you are trying to achieve. We have given a few examples below and any one of these can work well on different scales.

Many gardeners plant closer than is recommended to create a fuller look in a shorter timeframe and then divide or move the plants as they spread.

It is a good idea to repeat certain plants around the garden to create a balanced effect.

Massed Block

A common form of planting is a massed block where you create blocks of plants of a particular type. This gives a structured effect but they need to be chosen carefully in order to obtain a good contrast of form and colour. This pattern works well with a formal garden layout.

 

Informal Drifts

This pattern works well in borders were particular plants are grown in elongated drifts, often interlocked with other varieties. This produces a seamless blend and works well with a garden that has a flowing design objective.

Random

For a wild and jungly look, try dotting individual plants among groups of smaller plants in a random layout. This quite often results in plants interweaving with each other.

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Other Considerations

Plant Types

Your final choice of plants will be personal to you and we do not intend listing every variety here.

Our section on Plants, Shrubs and Trees provides an introduction to the most common varieties and provides lots of useful information on the conditions they prefer.

Shrubs can be ideal for small gardens and wall shrubs are a good option for small courtyard gardens.

Climbing plants are an essential part of a garden if you have walls and fences.

Annuals, biennials and bedding plants are usually used for summer bedding.

Whether you have a preference for roses, spring bulbs, ferns and grasses or any other varieties, your garden is yours and one of the greatest gardening pleasures is seeing the plant varieties you love growing and blossoming in your garden.

Colour

When choosing your plants, try and aim for all year round colour by making a broad selection of plants so that you have foliage, bud, stem and flower colour.

Many gardeners like to have a coordinated colour scheme using similar colours in various parts of the garden but this, in our view, is personal choice.

Containers can be good for providing all year round interest and can be kept in the greenhouse in the winter.
Small trees and hedges offer good all year round colour and texture via their foliage, blossom, fruit and bark.

Buying Plants

It may sound obvious but always but healthy specimens as stunted or damaged plants will not reach their full potential.

Trees and Shrubs

Both conifers and deciduous trees grow in many different shapes and sizes – conifers have distinctive shapes and can be used as both specimen trees and as hedging.

Deciduous trees have an extremely varied range of leaf shapes and sizes and you may wish to choose a certain specimen because of it’s foliage, branch shape or bark colour.

Both trees and shrubs can introduce height and grandeur into the garden and are useful for introducing contrasts in size and form with other plants.

Shrubs constitute an enormous range of plants suitable for gardens of any size and style and are invaluable for giving shape and substance to the garden and for providing a framework.

Small shrubs are good for bringing body, form and texture to summer flower beds and borders and larger ones can be used to create mystery or to screen unsightly part s of the garden. They can also be used as hedging plants or features in their own right.