Is your garden lacking a touch of visual and textural interest? As we begin a brand new year let’s find out how we can transform your landscape to flourish beautifully throughout the seasons.
If your garden seems to feel rather dull from season to season then it is time to give your garden a whole new personality with a vibrant and charismatic planting plan. From culinary delights, to fragrant cutting garden treasures, we’ve caught up with our specialist planting designers to find out their top seasonal planting favourites. Encompassing heavenly natural fragrances, structures and texture, come with us as we share an exclusive list of our top planting scheme picks.
Spring:
Wisteria
Boasting bold and impressive structures, wisterias are an enchanting addition to the garden. Striking climbers that can be trained to grow on walls or even the side of your home, these glorious plants are wonderful for filling your spring garden with a splash of colour and rich foliage.
Laburnum anagyroides
Often referred to as the “Golden chain tree”, Laburnum is a vivid deciduous tree that flowers an array of golden saffron blooms. Flowering from spring and up to summer, this striking tree is often found within many cottage gardens.
Tulipa
A cutting garden favourite, the trusty tulip is a true signifier of springtime. With varieties available in shades as bright as coral pink to creamy white, tulips are charming perennials that can be plucked straight from the garden to fill your interiors with a glorious burst of colour and perfume.
Raphanus sativus
Most commonly known as garden radish, radishes are one of the first vegetables readily available in the garden in springtime. Easily grown and harvested in the kitchen garden, garden radishes are perfect for adding to your fresh springtime salads and lunchtime sandwiches.
Summer:
Aloysia citrodora
Most commonly known as “Lemon verbena”, Aloysia citrodora is a delightful deciduous shrub that diffuses a charming citrus scent throughout the garden. Flourishing a unique collection of pink-tinted blooms in the summertime, this nectar-rich shrub is wonderful for attracting pollinators into the garden.
Lavandula
Wonderfully aromatic and a delight for the senses, lavender is a planting essential that can easily be slotted in to enhance a number of different garden styles. Burgeoning an abundance of summertime blooms, lavender is incredibly drought-tolerant, therefore our designers frequently include this perfumed plant within many of our gravel garden designs.
Allium
Glorious globes of colour swaying from tall emerald stems, Alliums are striking ornamental plants that make a delightful addition to the cutting garden but can also be dotted around your beds and borders too! Snipped fresh from the garden, Alliums are wonderful for lifting your interiors with a splash of summertime tones.
Mentha suaveolens
All throughout the summertime our kitchen gardens are flourishing with wonderful arrays of fruits, vegetables and herbs. Perfect for enhancing teas or decorating a series of desserts, Apple mint is a glorious herbaceous perennial that we adore integrating within our schemes that can be easily cultivated within your culinary garden.
Fragaria × ananassa
Grown in raised beds or a series of charming terracotta strawberry pots, strawberries are wonderfully well-rounded fruits that can be harvested all summer long. Perfect for sweet summertime desserts, nutrient-rich smoothies or chilled evening cocktails, strawberries are incredibly handy garden plants that especially love to be positioned in full sun.
Autumn:
Salvia rosmarinus
A dense evergreen shrub, rosemary is a fantastic plant for adding structure and interest to your garden all year round. Producing mossy green, upright foliage, rosemary is a useful kitchen garden herb that has a distinctive aromatic flavouring that can be used to enhance an endless variety of homemade meals and dishes.
Cosmos
Flowering from May until late October, Cosmos have an exceptionally long flowering period and are fabulous for dotting a divine palette throughout your landscape. Illuminating any autumn garden, Cosmos are available in a variety of colours and are a top hit with many different garden pollinators.
Liquidambar styraciflua
More commonly known as ‘sweet gum’, Liquidambar is one of of our planting team’s favourite autumn scheme picks. A deciduous tree that produces an ever-changing palette of leaves, we admire this tree in autumn as it effortlessly blends from tangerine to a deep purple in the the colder autumn months.
Winter:
Cavolo nero
Originating from Italy, Cavolo nero is a gorgeous dark green kale that can be grown in the kitchen garden during the colder winter months. Adding a beautiful touch of winter interest to the garden, this variety of kale is perfect for adding into stir fries or even for adding onto the side of your hearty homemade meals. Best grown in a space that receives full sun, you can harvest Cavolo nero from December right through until March.
Skimmia japonica
A dense evergreen shrub, Skimmia japonica is a wonderful choice for brightening up your garden during the darker winter season. Rich with deep green foliage that contrasts beautifully against a collection of cherry red berries, Japanese skimmia is a versatile plant that can be slotted into a variety of designs ranging from expansive country gardens to smaller townhouse courtyards.
Daphne odora
Finally we have the beautiful Daphne odora, or ‘winter daphne’. A substantial and stand-out planting choice, winter daphnes are fascinating evergreen shrubs that give your garden a wonderful year-round structure whilst blooming a collection of petite baby pink flowers in both the winter and springtime too. Most commonly found in cottage garden designs, these delightful shrubs are fabulous for adding winter interest to an assortment of beds and borders.
Interested in enhancing the visual and textural interest of your garden? Talk to us today to discover how we design gardens that flourish through all seasons.
