The easiest garden containers ever, and the comfortable abundance of green
How to instantly make your garden pretty with pots that last from May to September. Plus - more easy planting combinations for sun and part-shade, and bits and bobs for your garden room
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To tell you the truth, today I was going to be talking with you about how to design a garden, using this one as an example. About how to design a garden, yes, but also how to design a garden for people, a garden that really is for those who it’s made for, and which shows, in a non-conceptual1 or literal way2 why the garden is there.
But that story is going to have to wait. There was just so much that happened that I’m still going over in my mind, there were reactions which I’m still processing (it was called ‘powerful’ and' ‘brave’ - both of which hadn’t really been in my mind when I designed it), and honestly, the whole thing was overwhelming in the best of ways. Which means I’m still writing that story, the way I went about it and pulling the strings to gather so that if you wanted to create a similar garden, you could.
Today, instead, let’s look at some of the elements that pulled the whole thing together - yes, we are going ACCESSORISING. With green - green is SO good for making a space feel cosy: green bits and bobs, furniture and garden benches surrounded by green, and of course, plants. We’ve the easiest of planting combinations with roses for fragrance and topiary for structure. And, to top it all, there are container ideas which really are the simplest thing in the world but which will immediately give your garden that pizzazz. They really will.
Before we get going, here are some easy summer planting combinations and planting ideas for shady spots. I promise you they really are.
Keeping things simple, the pots in this garden pavilion each have just one variety of plant in them. Scented pelargoniums offer sniffy happiness at nose height when you’re sitting down, and for prettiness, bowl-shaped containers give great and easy structure on the floor. I mean really easy. Here’s Erigeron karvinskianus:
All you have to do is find a pot - any pot, but a bowl works really well as then the whole thing when planted becomes all about the plant rather than all about the container. Really effective, and really easy. This kind of thing is perfect:
The rest, as I say, is as easy as anything. You can do this right now this month: