Get inspired by our gorgeous garden from episode five of Love Your Garden. We created a bright, colourful paradise with rich borders and striking foliage.
Here is the plant list from the episode, so you can get the look at home.
Trees
We always add trees to our garden designs for height and shade. We planted ficus carica, sorbus ‘Pink Pagoda’, sambucus nigra, Laurus nobilis, magnolia grandiflora, cupressus totem, crataegus laevigata and the Indian bean tree, Catalpa bignonioides ‘Nan’.
This included a good mix of evergreen plants like bay and cypress (laurus and cupressus) alongside showier deciduous trees for a leafy canopy and flowers.
Foliage
Plants for foliage make the garden green and bring great texture. They also add a structure to beds and borders and help cover fences.
We used plants with large leaves like fatsia japonica, cordyline Australis, choisya ternata, phormium tenax and phormium ‘Rainbow Queen’. We also planted different varieties of hebe: Purple Shamrock, Emerald Gem and Autumn Glory.
For movement we added grasses including festuca glauca, stipa tenuissima, stipa ‘Ponytail’ and calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’.
Finally, we added texture and colour with nandina domestica, alchemilla mollis, Cotinus ‘Golden Spirit’, pittosporum tobira ‘Nanum’, Heuchera ‘Obsidian’, Heuchera ‘Palace Purple’ and Sambucus racemosa ‘Sutherland Gold’.
When adding texture to a garden, make sure to vary the shape and size of the leaf and the colour – here purple and red tones work alongside yellow-green colours.
Flowers
Finally, we put plenty of bright and cheerful colour into this garden. We chose plants with rich, bold hues and plenty of impact for a striking display.
We used lupins in many different colours – they are great border plants because their flower spires have good height and shape.
We also planted dahlias, osteospermum, achillea millefolium, canna indica, nerium oleander, geum ‘Queen of Orange’, geum ‘Totally Tangerine’, azalea japonica, gerbera garvinea, salvia nemerosa ‘Caradonna’ and Sedum telephium ‘Purple Emperor’.
Fences were planted with climbers: clematis montana and scented jasmine, trachelospermum jasminoides.
Did you like this garden makeover? Check out the before and after photos here!
And see what the Love Your Garden team gets up to behind the scenes.
David Domoney is a Chartered Horticulturalist, Broadcaster, and Author. David has worked with a number of the UK’s leading garden retailers as a plant buyer and strategic consultant. With more than 30 years experience, in horticulture, David is as passionate about plants now as he was when he bought his first plant at a village fete.
In the title of the photo saying flowers there is a tall spiky wide leaved plant, could you please tell me the name of it ? I would love one for my garden :)
Hi Nicola, It’s a phormium tenax variegata.
How does my garden get to be on your show
Hi Denise, applications open usually at the end of the series if we are recommissioned for another. All information will be on http://www.itv.com/beontv
Love this!! For this border how much sunlight would be needed each day in this area? I have a similar garden but the border would be shaded for a large portion of the day by the fences.9
Hi Tanya,
Thanks for your comment. For gardens that will be partially obscured by fences during the day, it is better to choose plants that prefer partial shade. Plants that like partial shade need around 3-6 hours of sunlight a day. I hope this helps!
Hi, I have a small city garden, but I love to plant some trees, do you think I can plant them near my house by the wall fence? Which one is the best for small spaces near buildings please ? Thank you
Hi Agata,
Thank’s for your comment. There are loads of trees that are ideal for small gardens and can be planted near walls. Check out my blog on the 15 best trees for small gardens to find out more.
I hope this helps!
What an absolutely fantastic transformation! Incredible work as always!
I’m going to try to recreate it, as best I can in my own garden. Such stunning combinations of plants & flowers. I wonder, could you tell me where you got the fence stencils from?
Many thanks for your constant inspiration.
Hi Ruth,
Thanks for your comment, I am glad you liked the transformation!
For the the fence stencils Frances used, you can find a large range of designs available on most online shopping sites.
Alternatively, your local DIY supplier or garden centre should stock similar products.
I hope this helps!