Plant recommendations from David Domoney. David is a Chartered Horticulturalist with over 40 years of experience growing and caring for plants. David has also worked on UK national television for over 2 decades. As a garden designer, David has won over 30 RHS medals for his garden designs at leading UK gardening shows and events.
We love showing you how to make over your garden. The transformation is always incredible, and it’s great to see people finally enjoying it.
But I know the prospect of a revamp without a team of experts can seem daunting, so I’ll show you the insider secrets to get the look at home. It really is doable.
And I’m not just saying that – I really do want you to Love Your Garden!
Potager veg garden
Potager is a traditional French kitchen garden that mixed veg, fruit and ornamental flowers in the same beds. It’s a great way to jazz up a veg plot and harmonise it with your other garden beds.
Start with espaliered fruit trees at the back – apple and pear thrive in Britain. Espaliered trees are high-yield because they have so many fruiting side branches, so they give loads of fruit without taking up too much space.
Then in the beds below we mixed rhubarb, beans, chard and lettuce with flowering plants like cosmos, alliums, lavender and calendula. Check the spacing for each veg crop to make sure it has room to grow into.
A circular herb wheel is a great addition to a veg plot
These were traditionally planted in old cartwheels laid on the soil, though ours was on a bigger scale. Again we added blooms like sunflowers and nasturtiums for extra colour.
Try a mix of chives, sage, basil, rosemary, lemon thyme and French tarragon. We also added Pineapple mint, but you have to keep an eye on mint plants because they spread quickly!
For the circular paving, use small carpet stones to get a round look, and add a central focal point like our mosaic. Arches or wooden wigwams covered in climbers will add height to such a low-growing feature.
If you want to cover a new fence, or just try something other than an evergreen hedge, use flowering shrubs! The key is to use varieties that flower at different times mixed in with evergreens. Shrubs that produce berries are great for winter colour too.
We used Lilac, Osmanthus, Ceanothus, Escallonia and Viburnum opulus. If you want a long hedge, repeat the shrubs for more cohesion. Prune them just after flowering for the best regrowth.
Mexican feather grass is football-proof and has great texture and movement
I always think footballs come with a homing device for prize blooms! Embrace the danger with tough plants that will survive the occasional crushing, or that respond well to hard pruning when bits get broken off.
We used Mexican feather grass (Stipa tennuissima) and Japanese Holly (Ilex crenata) throughout the garden. Box, lavender, Alchemilla, Choysia ternata and Salvia ‘Ostfriesland’ are also fantastic options. Good shrubs include lilac, Cotoneaster and Euonymous.
Peonies, or paeonia, are a classic British garden plant, famous for their bold foliage and big, showy flowers. They look divine planted in borders, giving the garden a punch of colour and fragrance from mid-spring to mid-summer. They can also be used as a low hedge, or mixed with roses, irises and columbines for a full flower bed.
Division
Peonies can be divided into two groups: herbaceous perennials with soft growth that dies back over winter, and tree peonies with woody stems that do not.
The plants have large, alternate leaves that are often tinged with bronze when young and rich red in autumn. But the real showstoppers are the flowers. They can be single, double or anemone-form and have lightly ruffled edges. The outer petals are broad and striking, and the centre is filled with strong stamens. They also make fantastic cut flowers.
Brilliant white
P. lactiflora ‘Duchesse de Nemours’is an old peony with white ruffled petals that deepen to yellow at the centre. It’s tall and has a strong, sweet fragrance. It’s also floriferous, meaning it grows multiple blooms on each stem that make excellent cut flowers.
Another good variety is P. lactiflora ‘Do Tell’, which has open, anemone-form petals and striking pink and white stamen. It won the American Peony Society Gold Medal in 2004, and grows prolifically in Britain. It has dark green foliage and strong red stems that won’t need staking.
Soft yellow
P. ‘Bartzella’ is an intersectional hybrid made from a cross between a white herbaceous peony and a yellow tree peony. It’s one of the most popular hybrids around, and won the American Peony Society Gold Medal in 2006. The huge blooms can be 25cm in diameter and have lemon yellow petals with red bases. It flowers prolifically without the need for staking, and has a lovely lemon fragrance.
How to grow peonies
Peonies are great for beginner or lazy gardeners, because they’re hardy and low-maintenance. They prefer full sun but tolerate light shade and thrive in most soil types.
Plant them in the autumn and once established they will look after themselves. They usually reach 60-90cm tall, but some varieties will get up to 150cm high.
The flower heads may need staking when in full bloom to stop the stems snapping. Cut the foliage as it dies back in autumn to avoid peony wilt – a grey mould.
Peonies are long-lived plants but they don’t like being transplanted, so leave them where they are. If you absolutely have to, move it in the autumn and try to create as little root disturbance as possible.
Did you know? Ants love peonies and can often be seen crawling over the buds and flowers. But don’t worry – they are there for the sweet nectar the flowers produce and don’t harm the plant!
Blushing pink
P. lactiflora Sarah Bernhardt is a long-time classic peony. It’s a floriferous variety named after the famous Victorian actress. The huge blooms have crinkled pink petals and a light fragrance. It’s a tall bush with rich green foliage that will need staking.
For something a bit more modern, try P. Coral Charm, a hybrid peony with salmon-coloured petals and a bright yellow centre. The blooms are in an antique rose form, and they fade from coral to a peach shade as the flower opens. The foliage stays green all year round, and it grows to 120cm tall.
Rich reds
P. lactiflora ‘Felix Crousse’ is an old, floriferous peony with a faint fragrance. It has rich raspberry-red flowers with a wide collar and a tightly packed centre. It’s a dependable variety with good drought resistance but may need staking.
Another good variety is P. suffruticosa ‘Rimpo’, a tree peony. It can grow up to 150cm tall, and has lovely deciduous foliage. It hails from Japan and has large blooms in a deep red shade with bright yellow stamen.
Wildlife gardens are increasingly popular, and you don’t need acres of land to encourage birds to feed and nest in your garden – simply plant varieties they love!
Many bird species are declining in Britain because they are losing their natural habitat, but you can help. There are 15 million gardens in the UK, covering 270,000 acres – that’s more than all the country’s nature reserves put together!
Choose plants that flower and seed at different times, so birds can eat natural foods all year round. Climbing plants also provide good cover for birds to roost. My top 10 plants are:
In autumn this plant will offer birds masses of fruit. Big fans include thrushes, finches and blackbirds, as well as more exotic birds like waxwing.
Corylus Contorta
The catkins and early growth of twisted hazel are ideal for chiffchaff and spring migrants.
Honeysuckle
It’s a great climber for birds, offering berries and cover for them to roost. Thrushes, warblers and bullfinches love it.
Malus Golden Hornet
Fruit from this plant will decay if you leave it untouched, exposing tasty seeds for great tits and greenfinches.
Pyracantha Orange Glow
This plant provides winter berries for thrushes and blackberries.
Rowan
Big rowan tree and ripe berries at golden sunset light
This is a great, compact plant for small to medium gardens. Different species will give berries from July to November, providing a feast for blackbirds and starlings. The white berries however are not as popular!
Festuca Gauteri
Goldfinch and Linnet love this plant’s seed heads.
Ivy
Its flowers attract insects, which birds love to eat, and its winter black berries are a firm favourite of thrushes, waxwings, starlings, jays and blackbirds.
Bidens Solar Garden
Its yellow flowers attract insects that are ideal food for tits, robins and warblers.
Other ways to help
Don’t be too keen to tidy your garden – those leaves, stems, twigs and debris make great nest material for birds!
You can install nest boxes for almost every garden bird you can think of, including owls, robins, sparrows and house martins. Site them away from feeding grounds, as the activity can disrupt mating pairs, and be patient – it can take a couple of years for birds to fill your box!
Finally, place a bird bath in your garden and keep it topped up with fresh water. Birds will flock to it for drinking and bathing. Put it somewhere you can see it from your window, so you can watch the birds without disturbing them.
