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Think Garden, Think Richard Garden Focus... Plan for the Year Ahead Melbourn garden designer, Richard Arnott Happy new year! In my series of articles for 2018, designing with plants, I am going to be discussing how best to bring a garden to life with planting. I aim to get you thinking differently about how to use plants, we are very colour obsessive but there are other elements that a plant can offer a space long after the flowers have faded. This month I want to explore winter silhouettes and stems.
have mound forming habits such as Hebe, Lavender or Choisya, whilst others grow horizontally like Cornus controversa ‘Variegata’ or Viburnum plicatum ‘Lanarth’. When the leaves have vanished from deciduous shrubs a striking plant form will offer real interest to the winter months! Transparency that allows the light to shine through a plant can offer a lovely effect at this time of year. Many shrubs can have a dense habit, especially if left unpruned. I love to use multi stem trees such as Amelanchier lamarkii, Prunus serrula or Betula utilis ‘Jacquemontii’. These type of trees have become very popular as they allow clients to have vertical interest without taking up too much space. The old adage “right plant, right place” is so true for tree selection. The Japanese Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’ has great garden worthiness because it looks good through spring, summer, autumn and winter. Many of my clients are impatient gardeners which allows me the luxury of planting semi mature plants, but more often than not if the soil preparation is good smaller plants soon catch up.
Striking plant forms can make a big impact in your planting design during the winter months. When I design a planting scheme I like to develop a plant palette which is based on plant worthiness over multiple seasons of interest and plant form is important too. Try to think of the shape that a plant makes if you view it in black and white. Some plants
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Pretty silhouettes with the low winter sunshine always lift my spirits on a cold, sunny, winter day. Hardy perennials with strong stems and seed heads look especially pretty blended with grasses and carefully chosen shrubs. The modern trend is to use smaller shrubs that can be clipped to maintain their form to contrast with the more naturalistic perennial and grass forms. I like to use shrubs such as Sarcococca digyna, Choisya ‘Aztec Pearl’, Photinia ‘Little Red Robin’ or box balls. The mound form contrasted with the vertical works well to extend season. I like to have a good ratio of evergreen shrubs in my mixed borders to keep the interest but the great thing about working with plants is that the picture is always changing. So when the lush growth of hardy perennials and grasses takes off in the spring the shrubbery recedes ready to be revealed again in the colder months. Stem habit should be considered too when choosing a plant palette for a new planting scheme. We talked about the horizontal form of Cornus controversa ‘Variegata’, but why not consider contorted growth too. The cork screw hazel Corylus
avellana ‘Contorta’ not only has pretty, twisted, curly growth but has lovely yellow catkins in February. This shrub would make a good focal point in a border or could be used either side of a path to frame the transition from one area of the garden into another. Stem texture and colour form an integral part of a winter based plant palette. We have discussed plant form and growth habit but bark texture and colour are interesting too. Most keen gardeners will be familiar with the use of dog woods in the garden, but why not use them alongside evergreen mounding forms in the mixed border. Acer griseum is a lovely smaller tree with pretty peeling bark. This could be happily used as a vertical accent in a mixed border too. For more in depth plant advice or garden design help please get in touch.
richardarnott.com
GARDEN DESIGN & BUILD
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Open Rehearsal Thinking of joining a choir?. You are invited to Royston Choral Society’s open rehearsal. Don’t worry - you will not be asked to sing on your own!
Open Rehearsal, Royston Parish Church, Tuesday 16th January, 7. 5-9. 5pm www.roystonchoralsoc.org.uk
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Get Royston Riddling Cracked Voices is working to write riddles with the First Schools in Royston and the villages. This is in spirit of International Puzzle Day (29 Jan). Everyone loves a riddle! Visit the blog at the end of the month to read the schools’ riddles.
www.cracked-voices.co.uk/riddles
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