SEASONAL SPLENDOUR
Planting a garden is part preparation, part creativity. You need to get a handle on the basics — things like choosing the right plant for the right location (for example, you wouldn’t put a shade-loving plant in a full-sun location) — otherwise your plants will struggle. If that happens, it won’t matter how pretty the planting plan or inspired your mix of flower colours and foliage textures; a garden filled with ailing plants is not a pleasing one.
There are books, websites, online tutorials and the experts at your local garden centre to help with the fundamentals. Once you’ve gained a command of the basics, you can don your designer’s hat and decide what look you want to create and devise a plan for what goes where.
There’s much to consider. First, what style do you favour — formal, native, cottage, coastal, tropical? Next, you need to think about how to use the plants that fit into your design theme to best effect. What role could climbing plants play? What about border planting and groundcovers? And as
