GRAND DESIGNS
Whether it’s Japanese style or seaside, edwardian or Caribbean, all you need is a dream theme to give your garden some flair, says Alan
Alan Titchmarsh
When you’ve poured your heart and soul into creating your dream kitchen, state-ofthe-art bathroom and designer living room, don’t you think it’s time you stamped your own style on the outdoors, too?
Today’s gardens are as individual as their owners. But when planning a makeover it’s no good allowing your project to evolve without any real direction. What will make it all hang together is a theme.
There are lots to choose from. A striking garden, such as Japanese, seaside or prairie, is guaranteed to turn heads.
or you could pick your favourite colour scheme or a particular period in history – edwardian or medieval gardens have lots of interesting possibilities. perhaps you have a particular passion you’d like to see reflected in your garden. A keen cook might pine for a potager or a herb garden and a nature lover would adore a butterfly border. The possibilities really are endless. The great advantage of basing your garden on a theme is that you know exactly where you are heading. So instead of collecting a load of clutter that never really looks quite right together, you can tell straight away what’s going to work in your patch. It’s foolproof.
First, do your research. Instead of jumping in feet first, it pays to collect as much background information as you can. Compile a file of catalogues from specialist nurseries and suppliers and add your own notes and photos from gardens you’ve visited. Consult a few books, so that by the time you come to design your patch, you have a good idea of what’s available, what you want and what you can afford.
When you start designing, the ground rules are much the same as for any garden design scheme. Begin by trying out several rough plans on paper or on your computer.
Start with an outline of the area showing any existing features that you want to keep, such as big trees, then pencil in new ideas starting with the most permanent features first – paths, paving, lawns and outbuildings. Move on to the finer detail – plants, tubs, garden furniture and decorations – next.
Right now, all you need to do is show blocks of planting. Don’t attempt to put names to shapes until you come to do a planting plan, once you have chosen your final design.
Let your imagination run riot. If you have a tiny town-centre pad, it’s entirely feasible to turn your entire garden over to your chosen theme, but with a larger garden you probably have only room for one or two themed areas within a more general purpose, family-friendly plot.
You could either develop them as a series of garden “rooms” screened off by hedges or fences, or simply let them run into each other without formal barriers between them.
But be practical. It’s no good making a fussy rock garden packed with treasures when you have kids and dogs, or a rhododendron wood on thin chalky soil.
It just won’t work.
The manual labouring is best done over the winter when your time isn’t fully taken up with routine gardening, but any plants that are not 100% hardy are best left until May, at the same time as you’d add frost-tender bedding plants or put exotics outside.
Decorating is the last job and that’s where you can have fun ringing the changes with containers, furniture and annual planting for years. So don’t feel you have to do the whole job in one go then stop. Just stay on theme and you can’t go wrong.