Category: Garden Design

A garden border with perennials Weatherstaff Planting Planner

Some plants make perfect bedfellows. Here are some of my favourite plant combinations.

Sometimes, the perfect combination happens almost by accident. The mauve flowers of Erysimum ‘Bowles’ Mauve’ are echoed by the starry globe of Allium cristophii, opening in the background and the bracts of Acanthus mollis. The fresh green of the miscanthus grounds the group, while the soft petals of the poppies dance above, bringing a lighter focal point to the display. How perfect is that?

Allium cristophii

In my photo, Allium cristophii is peeping shyly from behind a mound of foliage. But it is no shrinking violet. It is one of several in the border and they make a spectacular display. The grey-green, strap-shaped basal leaves wither before...

Read More »

Informal garden border

Inspiration

Sometimes we don’t know what we want until we see it in someone else’s garden!

In all these internet searches every month, what gardeners are looking for is a little inspiration. Pinterest is great for sharing ideas. Try scrolling through some images to see which ones you instinctively fall in love with and start collecting your favourite pictures on your own board.

For thousands of gardening ideas, click here to follow the Weatherstaff PlantingPlanner on Pinterest.

Even with a glorious mood board of beautiful images to inspire, though, it’s not always easy to transfer these ideas to our own garden borders. Here are some ideas for creating the garden of your dreams.

Style

The first step is to decide...

Read More »

Polystichum munitum, Myosotis sylvatica, the frosted foliage of Brunnera macrophylla Jack Frost and new buds opening on Centaurea monana - woodland plants from the Weatherstaff garden design software

When is a triangle not a triangle?

Our main garden is an elongated, right-angled triangle, bordered by a wild hedge edging a country lane. When we first moved in, the entire garden was laid to lawn and could be viewed in all its triangular, tapering glory! Pythagoras might have been delighted with the opportunity to experiment with the properties of our triangle. We were more perplexed by the dilemma of how to make a triangle look more like a rectangle!

In our vast expanse of grassness, we were also keen to add interest by creating pathways and hidden areas, as well as planting up flower borders to soften the boundaries.

We ended up making the lawn area smaller, with...

Read More »

Stepping stones landscape design ideas

When the children were small, I was quite taken with the idea of creating pathways around the garden. Trails for chasing round and doubling back on. Routes for Easter Egg Hunts. A pergola, clothed in climbers, providing hiding places for leaping out of on dark nights. For small children, plants didn’t need to grow very high before they could be ducked behind and screen someone in a game of Hide and Seek.

One year, we had a Princess and Prince themed birthday party held in the garden. The highlight was a game we devised which entailed leading the party-goers one by one around the stepping stone pathways on a hunt to slay the dragon. The children waited, quivering with excitement...

Read More »

Allium sphaerocephalon with Stipa tenuissima and Chamaemelum nobile planing idea for well-drained soil

Some plants make perfect bedfellows. Here are some of my favourite plant combinations.

Here’s an irresistible trio of plants for well-drained soil in full sun.

Alliums are flowering plants which include onions, garlic and chives, as well as a number of gorgeously trendy, ornamental plants for the herbaceous border. Allium sphaerocephalon is also known as the round-headed leek or drumstick allium.

The ovoid flowerheads, densely packed with bell-shaped flowers, sway on slender stems, green at first then maturing to a delicious dark red-purple. The strap-like foliage is already starting to wither when the summer flowers appear and can be cut back if necessary.

The intensity of the flowerhead fades to parchment as the summer passes. A bulbous perennial, it will...

Read More »