How to choose the right plants for your border, and my secret trick in planting design
Do you find it tricky to decide how many plants to use in a flowerbed? This week, I share one of my real-life planting designs to help you figure out this conundrum
As it has lots of images, this post may be too long for email - don’t worry, it isn’t an endless read in itself! - so please do have a look at it in your browser/app instead
Every so often on The Gardening Mind, I share a proper secret, something which sets my planting apart from others. Here’s one of those moments:
Hello, and if you’re fed up of the rain, then you’ve landed in exactly the right place:
I’m going to take you on a journey into sunnier thoughts. And who knows, we may even have some sunshine in the UK for a day - even two?
Sunny thoughts, romantic thoughts: it’s all here for you in this week’s episode of The Gardening Mind.
I reveal my secret trick in planting design.
We’re going to be looking at what plants to choose for your border, and most importantly, how many. 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.
Think of French women’s style: so well put-together, yet effortless and slightly shaggy
Before we get onto that, welcome to subscribers old and new - it’s been another wonderful week for new subscribers, and I want to give you a great big welcome into the Gardening Mind fold.
As you’ll soon discover, it’s a super-friendly place, and whether you like to quietly observe or join in with the Chats and courses, I think you’ll have found your people. That’s what it feels like to me. If you’re feeling that, come and join to get the full experience of this gorgeous (you really are) online gardening community:
I regularly host Zooms for paid subscribers where I explain to you how to find your way around The Gardening Mind. Here’s the next one for your diaries:
‘General catch-up and any questions about how to find your way around The Gardening Mind ’ on Tuesday 27th August at 6pm UK time.
Feel free to come and join us for 30 minutes of my showing you around TGM- it’s an excuse for a get-together!
Lots of you have asked for a link to the shady border garden design tips: you can find them here.
If you’re here because you’re interested in creating your own garden design, and you’d like to catch up on the Small Garden Design Course, you can find a full-round-up of all the assignments and articles, in chronological order, here. So whether you’re just about to join in for the first time, or if you want to catch up, you can find each relevant piece here to work through at your own pace.
Over on the Chat, have a look for the new Midweek Mooch (just trying this name out - if you’ve got a better idea, let us know in the comments!), where you can post video updates.
The Chat has become a huge part of this gardening community - if you’re a paid subscriber you can start conversations, ask gardening questions, and post photos. It’s taken on a life of its own, so do use it! On Sunday regular Show Us Your Plots on the Chat, you can show us what your garden, or any green space near you, is looking like - we’d love to see - and we’re not judgemental! All-comers from everywhere are welcome and we have members from all over the world. Please come and join in!
This week, we’re back to looking at border planting design
Do you find choosing perennials absolutely mind-blowing? Do you start off with a notebook, and list one plant, and then another that you think will go well with it, and then another that will work well after the first one has faded, and then another that will go with that… and so on and so on, for ever……?
As something special, I’m sharing with you one of my actual planting designs to show you how I do it, explaining how many different plants you need:
Too many plants is such a common pitfall - when we’re plant shopping, it’s just so easy to just include everything we want and end up with fifty different plants which then look like nothing at all when all planted together. The dream border turns into an all-you-can-eat pizza of planting, and not in a good way.
For effect, limiting the number is key. It’s also the hardest thing to do, so that’s what we’ll be figuring out today.
We’re also going to take a look at one of my biggest planting design secrets, which will, I promise you, transform your planting into something magical: