Line of BEAUTY

Make your summer borders sing with a harmonious planting scheme that balances colour, shape and texture

putting together a flower border is a bit like making a work of art. You can ‘paint’ with plants, dabbing in new colours, adding texture, injecting a dash of this, a few drops of that, to create a pleasing composition. But it can be daunting, too. How do you get the heights right? Will everything flop? Might those two colours clash? Like most creative work, it requires a degree of experimentation. But you can make sure you’re on the right track by doing a little homework before you start.

Begin by studying what effects you like. Put together a moodboard of combinations that appeal, either on screen or by cutting pictures from magazines to see how they sit together. Viewing plants side by side in this way gives a good idea of what they might look like in your garden.

While colour is one of the main considerations, you’ll need to build in a variety of foliage texture and form, and different flower shapes. Cupshaped blooms contrast beautifully with spears, feathery foliage acts as a foil for bolder, more rounded leaves. The soil and conditions, plus a plant’s growth habit and ultimate size, all play a part, too. These need to be carefully noted and, remember, of course, that the picture will change as the seasons progress.

Like most creative work, putting together a flower border requires a degree of experimentation

ADVICE FROM THE EXPERTS

Tom Brown, head gardener at West Dean in Sussex (westdean.org.uk), emphasises the power of repetition and rhythm: “If you repeat a particular plant several times down a border, the eye will take that in and find it naturally pleasing.” If you have space, position plants in groups of three or five to create impact and avoid a spotty effect.

Garden designer Beth Chatto championed species plants and those that resembled them to create elegant, harmonious schemes. Rosemary Verey, one-time doyenne of country house gardening, advocated planting in vertical layers, to encourage “a climber to billow out over a shrub, or herbaceous plants to push through spreading ground cover”. The dynamic elements, often ruled by nature, are what makes garden design so exciting.

Tom Brown favours a naturalistic look – often with a collage of romantic plants that froth and meander. It may look barely controlled, but it requires close monitoring to recognise when to restrain a potential thug or prop up something that’s ailing. Getting to know your plants helps you understand their habits and choose well. Refining is at the heart of the process and one of the joys of creating a stunning canvas.

THE WHITE UMBELS AND FEATHERY FOLIAGE OF ANNUAL Ammi visnaga ADD SOFTNESS TO A SCHEME, HERE COMPLEMENTED WITH GENTLE BLUES AND MAUVES FROM Geranium ‘ROZANNE’, CATMINT Nepeta ‘SIX HILLS GIANT’ AND Perovskia ‘BLUE SPIRE’. DOTTED BEYOND THESE IS THE PINK OF Sidalcea ‘ELSIE HEUGH’

THIS PAGE, ABOVE BUILD IMPACT WITH DIFFERENT PLANTS OF A SIMILAR HUE. HERE, THE DARK PURPLE FLOWER SPIKES OF Salvia ‘CARADONNA’, PARTNERED WITH VIBRANT Phlox ‘BLUE PARADISE’, ARE SURROUNDED BY Salvia verticillata ‘PURPLE RAIN’, Scabious ‘SAY SO BLUE’ AND S. ‘OXFORD BLUE’. BEHIND ARE Echinacea ‘WHITE SWAN’ AND THE SPIRES OF Veronicastrum alba LEFT ALLOWING ONE VARIETY TO WEAVE THROUGH ANOTHER, AS WITH THESE WHITE ‘SNOW MAIDEN’ SCABIOUS AND ‘VATICAN WHITE’ CLARY SAGE, CAN CREATE MAGICAL EFFECTS OPPOSITE ADD PUNCH WITH DRAMATIC, EYE-CATCHING FOLIAGE. HERE, THE ALMOST METALLIC-LOOKING LEAVES OF Ricinus communis ‘NEW ZEALAND PURPLE’ AND THE GLAUCOUS, SERRATED ONES OF Melianthus major ARE SHOT THROUGH WITH THE SPEAR-LIKE FLOWERS OF Kniphofia ‘TAWNY KING’ AND Agastache ‘BLACK ADDER’

OPPOSITE Echinacea ‘WHITE SWAN’ DAISIES ARE THE STAR ATTRACTION HERE, WITH A SUPPORTING CAST OF BLUE AND WHITE LARKSPUR Consolida regalis ‘CLOUDY SKIES’ AND ‘SNOWCLOUD’ THIS PAGE, RIGHT HAVING CONTRASTING LEAF SHAPE AND COLOUR IS A VITAL PART OF A SUCCESSFUL SCHEME. THE SILVERY-GREY FOLIAGE OF Artemisia ludoviciana ‘VALERIE FINNIS’ SITS BEAUTIFULLY WITH MAUVES SUCH AS Salvia ‘SAY SO BLUE’, LONG-FLOWERING Geranium ‘ROZANNE’ AND Penstemon ‘ALICE HINDLEY’ BELOW HOT COLOURS TURN ON THE SUNSHINE. START WITH A HOST OF YELLOWS – DAISY-LIKE Coreopsis verticillata ‘GRANDIFLORA’ AT THE FRONT WITH Verbascum chaixii AND BRONZE FENNEL BEHIND AND TURKISH SAGE Phlomis russeliana FOR DRAMA. ADD SPICE WITH DARK-LEAVED RED ORACH Atroplex hortensis VAR. rubra AND Dahlia ‘BISHOP OF LLANDAFF’