Outside Edge
SHOW YOUR
true colours
THIS SUMMER SO’s resident gardening expert Victoria Truman suggests simple ideas on how you can create the most impact in your external space with the least effort…
46 | May 2021 | SO Magazine
I
t is truly amazing how mature trees and plants can completely transform virtually any outside space with immediate effect. Many clients ask me how to bring instant impact into their garden. And I tell them that this is very achievable when you use sculptural topiary shapes. During the winter they look superb because of the drama they create, especially when frost and snow appears. Then in the summer months I find the topiary shapes add punctuation to the froth and colour of all those gorgeous summer flowers. Trees are a fantastic way of bringing in interest vertically and the sky really is the limit with what
size you buy! You’re basically buying time, the time it has taken to produce a large specimen tree is 7-15 years of a nursery man looking after the tree and caring for its every need so when it is planted in your garden you end up with not only an amazing, fully grown specimen, but one that has been nurtured and cared for. If you’re after some instant colour then that can be can be added at very little cost with the use of colourful seasonal bedding plants. Plant them in pots and containers or use them to plug gaps in borders when other plants have died down. To assure you have plenty of colour come early summer get ahead by thinking of the seasons. If
Victoria Truman Garden Designer
you plant tulips en masse in November then by April/May you will have created a cacophony of colour within your space. By choosing larger specimens you will achieve instant and maximum impact with no wait time as the time of the plant maturing has already happened. Now spring is truly underway, thoughts turn to summer and the garden. As you look at your garden, does the nagging question of "where do I even begin" sound familiar? In my opinion, the first and foremost thing to do is to stand back for a moment and simply enjoy the beauty that Mother Nature has given us... Listen to the birds as they sing you a spring melody... dream a little... put on the
