DESIGN

Keeping it simple

By adhering to a colour and planting scheme and utilising mass blocks of colour, some stunning effects can be achieved and you can pick a theme for your extremely low-fuss garden to suit your architecture, your climate, or your personal preferences.

Another advantage of mass planting with two or three species is the ability to reduce the amount of lawn that needs looking after without loss of green life to the environment. Including at least one long-flowering performer in the mix ensures there are flowers for pollinators to access nectar and ‘do their thing’. When designing a low maintenance space there is often a temptation towards excesses of easycare paving and ‘hard landscaping’, but this is easily alleviated with the addition of volumes of plants.

Mass planting not only looks gorgeous and softens the overall impression - it also does the right thing by the environment. Generous blocks of drought tolerant plants help to reduce water losses in the summer and reduce the amount of irrigation required. This is especially important with many regions of New Zealand facing watering restrictions over the hot and dry months. Flower Carpet® Roses form a dense ground cover, reducing water evaporation from the soil. Their efficient root systems aid survival in dry conditions and their diseaseresistant foliage is healthy, even in the height of summer.

There’s an extensive palette of Flower Carpet® colours available. Go to www.tesselaar.com for the full selection.

ABOVE: Flower Carpet® Gold and Tropicanna® Gold harmonise well for a tropical theme. BELOW LEFT: Flower Carpet® Pink and English lavender give a simple cottage garden look. BELOW RIGHT: Simple lowmaintenance elegance with hardy Flower Carpet® White, green English box and burgundy tones.