How on earth do you start with a border planting design?

Getting the effect you want in gardens of any size - and one of my secret garden design tricks for planted borders that look good

Now I’ve pointed this trick out and you’re looking for it, you’ll see it everywhere. I promise you, it’ll make things look just right in a relaxed way.

And after all, isn’t relaxed what we want...?

First of all, confessions

Apart from feeding the birds, I haven’t been out in the garden to actually garden ONCE this week. I’ve walked THROUGH it on a daily basis, but have ignored the pots, and the snow melted before there was any need to shake it off the evergreens. An insulating duvet which has now turned to ice, it’s still lingering on the pots and the grass, and I marvel at how anything can be going on underneath that freezing cap. But I know the bulbs will survive - in fact they’re probably happier with this protection than being swamped in mud. I thought I’d taken a photo which I was going to insert here, but it turns out I haven’t even done that. Oops.

Another confession - this time from my sister who, being the polar opposite of me in so many ways (tall, loves a spreadsheet, hates gardening, happily engages in conversation with strangers, stores her books in cupboards to be tidy - I mean?) - admitted yesterday that she still hadn’t planted the tulips which I gave her as a November birthday present. After having the usual sibling no-holds-barred you’re such an idiot conversation, we decided to go down the trusty old chuck-them-in method. If you still have some bulbs to go in and the ground is too hard, do this:

Do you still have a pile of bulbs waiting to be planted?

Before I launch into planting ideas, a quick thank you for hitting the heart-like ❤️button. It makes this post visible to people who might miss it otherwise. THANK YOU - I appreciate every single heart ❤️

Small Garden Design Course

• We’re having a Zoom this Sunday 12th January at 6pm UK time. This Zoom is for anyone: whether you’ve started the course, whether you’re thinking about starting it, or whether you’re simply an interested observer and you’d like to find out what it’s all about, I’d love it if you could join us. We’'ll also be looking at how to find your way around The Gardening Mind and Substack in general. You can find the Zoom link here:

Small Garden Design Zoom

How to start a planting design

• If you’re anything like me and have remained more indoors than outdoors, planning is a very good January pursuit. It’s the perfect opportunity to start planning any planting that you might be thinking of getting into the ground around end February/ March-time so that you can appreciate it this summer. By the way, plant notes involves notebooks - I love a notebook/paper diary combo, although I have a really bad habit of using whichever one I like the look of that day, which means my notes are all over the place. I’d be interested to know if you have this problem.

• We’re going to have a look at the combination of three plant shapes - honestly, if you put these together, your planting choices will just magically work.

• There’s a whole series of border design here on The Gardening Mind. This week we’ll be taking a look at this garden case study and breaking down the planting in it. If you’re new to gardening, you might like this simple planting recipe:

Back to school haircuts, a recipe for an Instagarden, and a Zoom

• If you get really puzzled trying to figure out how many different varieties to choose when you’re buying plants, this post is for you:

  How to choose the right plants for your border, and my secret trick in planting design

• If you have a border that’s overgrown or overwhelming, you might find this helpful:

  Borders #1 - where to start

• If you’re just starting out, have a look at the Easy Gardening and How to Garden sections. Things like soil and compost might feel a bit boring, but get those right and it’ll make the world of difference:

  Getting to know your garden - Storecupboard Basics 1

If you’ve ordered my new book, thank you!

You can pre-order The New Romantic Garden here:

Atmosphere is the absolutely most important part of any planting design. Leave aside the practicalities to begin with. Let’s look instead at how to get the general effect you want. The soul, the atmosphere. Identify these first and your garden will have the magic and it won’t look derivative or formulaic. It’s your garden space and you want it to feel like yours

Don’t tear your hair out with planting design. There’s just so much to cover: I’m breaking it down for you into easily-manageable chunks. We’ll eat that elephant one bite at a time.

Let’s delve into this family garden’s planting and how you can easily - I promise you easily - achieve a good-looking effect in your own garden. This is a city garden. It isn’t acres of rolling countryside:

Today I want to focus on the variety of plants to use. Don’t worry about quantities and spacing for the moment; we’ll look at that next time. There’s just so much to cover when it comes to bringing a successful planting together and I don’t want overwhelm you with too much about quantities etc.

The atmosphere. That certain something

This is the absolutely most important part of any planting design. Leave aside the practicalities to begin with. Let’s look instead at how to get the general effect you want. The soul, the atmosphere. Identify these first and your garden will have the magic and it won’t look derivative or formulaic. It’s your garden space and you want it to feel like yours: