Planning and Planting a Border - What Do You Do?

This is a great topic, @Plantminded! It’s been really interesting to read the responses. I use different strategies in different areas. I have a much larger garden than my last house, and moved here in October. There are a lot of nightmares to deal with here, but I’ve got one border mostly sorted out. I kept some of the plants: buddleia, lavender, box, wild rose, azalea, heathers and hostas but got rid of the false spiraea, invasive grasses and a few other horrors. My strategy is just to get as much ground cover in because weeds are a big problem here, so it’s been a case of transplanting from the back garden, seeing things that will do the job in garden centres and finding things that have worked well before. Colour hasn’t even been properly considered there.

I’ll be creating other areas over time, and will probably use the same strategy as I did with new borders in my old garden. Spend months thinking about size, shape and structure, change my mind a thousand times, research endlessly online and then stick vaguely to that plan when buying plants for it. I like shrubs, and tend to put complementary colours together. I dislike clashing colours but do like splashes of colour across the border, to keep the eye interested. I generally plan for evergreen perennials scattered about to keep some colour through the winter, with more colourful, higher maintenance plants or annuals sprinkled in between in, generally inspired by things I see in gardens or garden centres. I do plant in clumps of three where I can though.

 

I inherited neglected gardens in my previous property and my current one @Scotmac and have followed the same methods and strategies as you describe. When I moved here the house had been empty for over a year and the garden was overgrown and full of weeds. After having a huge aged conifer removed, my initial focus was to get lots of evergreen shrubs in to provide interest over winter and then add grasses and perennials to increase interest through colour, form, leaf shape and sound. After nearly 12 years I'm still changing things around but now know what will tolerate my dry sandy soil and light levels. The garden is sloping which also adds to the fun and occasional mishap!

 

I think I do a bit of everything. I can spend ages researching and choosing plants for a specific space or conditions but am also susceptible to temptation. I do like plants repeated and in groups as I feel you then get much more impact when they are in flower but then budget and nature has a say.

I did start off having colour themes for different areas but it’s gradually got looser and looser, largely due to the large number of self seeders we have. I think it’s easier to have defined colour palettes (for different borders) if you have a large garden and are strict with self-seeders. I am definitely not strict, if it’s a plant I like I usually let it get on with it. I know that in theory you can move them to where you want them to grow, but I find that can be quite hit and miss. Even if the conditions are right, they don’t always seem to agree

 

My soil is dry and sandy too, and the self-seeders seem to love it - several kinds of homesty, foxgloves, anthriscus "Ravenswing", Aquilegias in many colours as well as forget-me-nots all doing their thing at the moment, Campanila persicifolia, Teucrium "Purple Tails", Linaria just starting, and probably others that I've forgotten. The trick is not to be too keen with the deadheading or pulling out plants that have gone over, or with weeding out the seedlings/young plants later, and not to mulch over the seed after they've shed it - better to do it around the plants if you can, before they set seed. Having said that, it's "council of perfection" so make what you will of it.

 

I was delighted to find some self-sown Salvia farinacea under the mother plants this spring. The original plants are perennial here, so 'babies' are a bonus

 

I start off planning but then it doesn't always go according to plan. My current garden is now 3 years old and I started it from scratch. It was just grass with a few trees, 1/4 acre. Mostly clay soil. I've found that there are areas that get very wet when it rains a lot and other areas that are drier and too dry in summer. Most of the garden is sunny except the bits near trees and in the shadow of my house.

I've made 2 beds which are planted with old varieties of pink roses, such as Louise Odier, Jacques Cartier, Comte de Chambord, Cornelia, lavenders, stachys byzantina, sage, nepeta etc. I'm trying to keep it pink, blue and silvery. I like pastel colours and I love pink roses. This bed is on the dry side.

I have a bed that I was going to keep orange and purple but it's changing already. I have planted 2 roses, Lady Emma Hamilton and Marie Curie in it and perennials.

Then I wanted more colour so I dug my Jewel Bed which has bright colours of all sorts.





I made a bed along a fence which is dappled shade. I have 3 group 3 clematis, rose Narrow Water and a honeysuckle and some perennials, fuchsias and lots of foxgloves.
Another fence started off with yellow roses and blue perennials but I bought more roses and needed a place for them so each end has different roses.

OH bought me a gazebo for my birthday last year. I've planted 4 climbing and rambling roses, white, pink and red to climb up it and 3 bush roses in between. This bed has mostly pink, white and purple.

I'm a bit of a plantaholic so I found some roses I just had to have when I was ordering the gazebo roses online. They arrived in December. I made a new island bed around the young amalanchier, partly in dappled shade. I've also planted some perennials, fuchsia Delta Sarah and spirea Snowmound.

I can't always plant what I planned when the ground is too wet, dry or shady for certain plants or I can't find the plant for sale that I was thinking of. France doesn't have nearly the choice that the UK has.

I buy single plants which I divide when they mature. I like a good variety and, as I said, I'm a plantaholic. I like flowers and scents and all colours from pastels to bright orange and purples. I don't care for grasses. I like different leaf shapes and textures too, like hostas, epimediums, liatris hemerocallis, ferns etc.

Sorry for such a long post.

 

I was hoping you would add to this thread @Busy-Lizzie as I’ve enjoyed seeing both your gardens develop. Your jewel border looks wonderful, nice bold colours!

 

Your garden is really beautiful, @Busy-Lizzie. Lovely colour combinations!

 

Thank you both.
I love your garden @Plantminded, despite my doubts about grasses! Have to say they look good in your garden.

 

Thank you @Busy-Lizzie. Who knows, you may be tempted to add a grass or two in future and I might add a bit more colour! I do like roses but they don't fare well here even if I improve the soil. I like grasses most in winter when the faded flowers absorb any light and bounce it around the garden at a time when everything else looks miserable!

 

I don't really mind my garden in France looking miserable in winter, @Plantminded, because I'm either indoors with the wood burner lit, except when I go out for a walk, or I'm at OH's cottage in Norfolk. Having said that, I do have a period of activity in winter in my garden, weather permitting, when I prune the grape vine, clear up the veg garden, tidy up and mulch the flower beds and make a start on rose pruning.

 

I find planning a border really difficult..I constantly change my mind what I think I want I give it a week or two in which time it has changed many times until one day I just go with it.

 

I usually plant in 3's and 5's but not to fussed after that depends on the plant though , I prefer drifts than blocks of plants but I don't have a big garden so multiple of the same plant and then repeated again further down the border can be tricky . I do look a flowering times what goes with what I like clashing bold colours not wishy washy colours I am drawn to orange - magenta - purple and blues in the garden - do I like the leaf shape ? does it need hiding or bring it closer to be viewed , dark colour leaves appeal the most . When I did the front garden I looked into winter structure but the snow / weather doesn't cooperate , did you see that thread on GW @Plantminded ? not sure if you were on then but I did do on thread on here to.

I am always editing the borders and adding annuals etc.

 

I agree that annuals are an essential part of a successful border, they produce pops of colour that really can’t be got from most perennials, plus you can change them every year.

 

I'm the same @Perki - I like strong colours, but I also like to combine the folaige colours in that mix too. Heights always have to be considered, and that's where conditions have an impact - a plant can be a large height in one part of the country, and much smaller in another, simply because of soil and climate. That's when a bit of reshuffling happens so that a plant isn't hidden, or something can be moved because it just doesn't do well enough to have it's 'moment'.

Evergreens are important here, as a border with nothing but perennials would be empty for a very large part of the year, which would be depressing.