Rural garden
A medium-sized rural garden in Shropshire, mostly mown grass with one or two borders. A planting scheme for the whole garden was needed. The cost for the Planting Design was around £1300 and the cost for Plants & Planting for Phase 1, Borders around Patio (excluding border preparation) around £600This Planting Design is part of a Garden Design for this garden, which can be found in the Portfolio.
In the beginning the client was unsure about what planting style to go for, they wanted something naturalistic but at the same time really liked pictures showing cottage garden borders. After some rounds of sending pictures back and forth they went for a theme in the style of a garden Piet Oudolf designed and wrote about in one of his books.
Two ornamental grasses, Sporobolus and Molinia together with two types of Euphorbia form the framework for these borders and are woven through groups of perennials chosen for their seasonal interest. The grasses in this scheme are essential for tying the planting in with the meadow area behind and the surrounding fields, used by livestock for grazing.
In autumn, the Amsonia and Euphorbia epithymoides shine with their yellow and red autumn colour. Providing the autumn is not too wet, most of the plants should hold their structure into winter, providing some lovely wintery sculptures.
The plants chosen for this scheme - apart from conforming to the style - needed to be able to cope with the free-draining, sandy soil which dries out relatively quickly in summer. The soil has been improved over the years so low-nutrient conditions usually associated with sandy soil applied to a lesser extend. The advantage of working with free-draining soil means that plants, which in other conditions would struggle with sitting in wet soil over winter, will do better here.
The first stage of planting around the finished patio area. The plants were purchased, laid out and planted in November. The second photo was taken by the owner the following summer.