Grand designs plant seed of a groundbreaking idea
YOU DON’T have to be the sort of person who files their LPs in alphabetical order to enjoy the orderliness of a formal garden. I know people often think of it as the “statues, symmetry and straight lines” school of gardening but it’s not just for stately homes.
OUT FRONT
It can be a practical proposition for tiny front gardens or enclosed town courtyards and it is the natural choice to partner the frontage of a Georgian house.
Forget about recreating a natural landscape, a formal plot is more like an extension of the surrounding architecture. And for a back garden big enough to create a series of “garden rooms”, one formal area makes a smashing contrast to natural, wild or woodland features.
In my last garden I was pleased with my small, formal patch which stood on the only level area, making a visual “pause” between two sloping informal areas.
You walked from natural and meandering to straight lines and back in a few strides, with no solid barrier separating the styles.
My formal area started out as a rose garden with dwarf box hedges lining the paths until I turned it into a garden providing cut flowers for the house. A formal garden is brilliant for growing anything you need to pick or work on regularly as it is well provided with paths.
That’s why a lot of herb gardens are designed around a rectangular or circular shape with plenty of gravel or paving.
PLOTTING AND PLANNING
It starts with the design. All you need is a pencil, ruler and graph paper. Choose a basic geometrical shape – a square, circle or rectangle – then divide it up into smaller bits.
A circle can be separated into segments like an orange or concentric rings like a dartboard, with a round central feature – a sundial, bird bath or plant container. A square can be divided into four using two paths that meet at right angles in the middle, or a square within a square so you have borders round the outside and a flower bed in the centre with paths between the two.
A rectangular plot can be turned into a double border or floral walk, with a path and beds either side.
LAYING IT OUT
Once you’ve decided on a plan, lay your paths and outline them in dwarf hedging. Then you need some formal ingredients to go into the beds. For a traditional look, go for herbs, roses or a mixture of herbaceous perennials. Dahlias look stunning in a double border, with tall, chunky varieties at the back and shorter ones at the front.
You could use colourful varieties of vegetables planted in geometrical- shaped blocks. Or do away with the dwarf edgings and go for Victorian- style carpet bedding, using concentric rings of short, contrasting colours with a group of taller plants in the centre.
You can also have modern formal – a carpet of short-flowering perennials with giant ball- headed alliums standing out, confined in geometrical beds in a symmetrical paved garden.
THE RIGHT MIX
It’s not compulsory to have a formal garden. A wild- flower lawn looks stunning with a topiary hen and chicken tucked in a corner.
A haphazard cottage garden can be pulled together by a neatly clipped hedge cut into a series of stepped blocks. A small, gravelled-over front garden comes to life with a yew peacock and a modern front door looks smart with a standard bay or spiral- trained box bush alongside.