5 tips for creating a colourful, architectural garden

1 Choose floriferous, fast-growing plants that cover the soil very quickly and need no maintenance other than cutting back once a year in late February. Some popular choices include Alchemilla mollis and Symphytum ‘Hidcote Blue’, although these are not for prairie planting.

2 Choose plants that don’t self-seed and your weeding time will be dramatically reduced. Grasses, including Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea ‘Transparent’, and Andropogon ‘JS Purple Konza’, and perennials, such as Symphyotrichum turbinellum ‘El Fin’ (both selections of Jan’s), are good starting points.

3 Use a deep (7cm) layer of lava rocks (2-8mm in size) as mulch. Not only do they prevent weeds, conserve moisture in the soil and protect against frost, they add to the beauty of the garden, and never need replacing.

4 Plant in gravel. Make a bed in which just 10 per cent of the depth is soil and fill the rest with gravel. It will be too dry for weeds, but plants such as lavenders, sedums, helianthemums and erigerons will thrive.

5 Assess which plants are invasive or outgrowing their space, before you cut them down in February. Then take action or you won’t remember which plant is which.