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Small gardens are all too often defined by their boundaries, but, by paying attention to this garden’s perimeters and carefully shaping the space within, garden designer Colm Joseph has brought the focus into the heart of this garden. Here a restrained yet naturalistic planting scheme has created a relaxed and harmonious place in which to spend time. The owners of this garden, in the suburbs of historic market town Bury St Edmunds, are keen gardeners, but were saddled with too many challenges (dating back to when the house was built in the 1990s) to tackle a redesign themselves. “There were overpowering shrubs and uninspiring panel fencing that failed to screen the garden, and a lack of inviting destinations within,” recalls Colm. On the verge of retirement, the owners asked for…

Harmony and simplicity are key principles for Greencube Design in Kent, a landscape company with the aim of marrying clients’ interests and lifestyle with their gardens. So, when it came to designing her own home patch, Greencube’s Amanda Buckland let her love of nature, wildlife and conservation guide her to create what she has dubbed a ‘modern meadow’ for its contrasting hard and soft elements. “It’s about giving a bit of space back to nature,” she says, describing her garden as “a bee and butterfly nectar pot, and a place to rest and to contemplate”. In common with her husband Mike, who is an avid birdwatcher, one of Amanda’s passions is visiting UK nature reserves for wildflowers and wildlife alike, often photographing resident species. But it was through visiting Great…

Sometimes, things just fall into place. That was certainly the case in this project, where the clients, introduced to garden designer Declan Buckley by their architect, happened to buy a house across the road from Declan’s home. They got in touch, intending to visit another of Declan’s projects, but when that fell through, they met at Declan’s house instead. The rest, as they say, is history. “My garden is like the temperate house at Kew, but without a roof,” says Declan. “It’s rather overgrown, but they loved the lushness of it, and when they realised they could grow hardy versions of bananas that they were familiar with from growing up in Kerala, they were super excited.” The clients’ garden, when Declan first saw it, was nothing more than a patch…

The area in front of the ‘dark spa’, the guest suite building at the bottom of the garden, is a great example of blending planting with experience. Key to the feel is the ornamental meadow. Situated in front of the spa building, the planting gives a nod to the Cambridge Fens. It isn’t a replica but rather an evocation of the plants, textures and colours of the lowland Fens in this part of East Anglia. “I wanted to create a wildflower and long-grass area on one side, and a more ornamental version of it on the other,” says Jane. Jane used a flowering lawn mix from Emorsgate Seeds, which comprises several key plants, including lady’s bedstraw (Galium verum), white clover (Trifolium repens) and meadow buttercup (Ranunculus acris). “What’s great is…

Garden designer Jane Brockbank has used a blend of lower-growing and mid-range perennials, with bulbs, climbers, shrubs, grasses, herbs and trees to create year-round interest. Plants, such as evergreen Sarcococca hookeriana Winter Gem (= ‘Pmoore03’) and Helleborus argutifolius, ensure winter interest, while a climbing Clematis alpina ‘White Columbine’ and the large shrub Magnolia stellata continue the show in spring. Summer sees plants such as Rosa x odorata ‘Mutabilis’ and Geranium Patricia (= ‘Brempat’) come to the fore, giving way to autumn flowerers such as Bistorta amplexicaulis ‘Fat Domino’. No colour palette was specified, but the combination of purple sage (Salvia officinalis ‘Purpurascens’) and yellow, semi-double buttercup Ranunculus acris ‘Stevenii’ in the bed on the terrace is particularly successful. Not often seen in ornamental planting, the buttercup is a favourite of…

Borders can be dark and dramatic, or airy and light, rich and bold, sweet or tart, sometimes brooding or energetic, uplifting or peaceful. Identifying the mood is the starting point of a plan, bearing in mind that it’s more than just the colour combinations that create the look; it’s the shape of the leaves or petals, the number of different plants, the repetition of the same varieties; even personal and historic associations that plants have can affect the atmosphere of the border. A confident elegance was needed for this border – a pale slice of the colour wheel at the point of pinks, purples and icy blues, given depth by dark aubergine undertones. It’s restrained without being self-consciously monotone. If it had been too rich, it would have shouted ‘look…

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Dianthus carthusianorum is everything I like best in a plant,” says garden designer Mary Keen. “It is a clear colour, delicate, unimproved and see-through.” This bright, pretty pink forms part of the radiant, high-summer haze that has become the seductive heart of her Cotswold garden. Although this part of the garden has the advantage of being wider than the neighbours’ gardens, it is hard to believe that you can feel so delightfully lost in the middle of a pretty country town. The borders shimmer with lacy, white Erigeron annuus and the feathery grass Deschampsia cespitosa ‘Goldtau’, the haze punctuated by tiny dashes of the electric-pink dianthus or the clear sky-blue of wild chicory. There are stands of carmine hollyhocks, radiant single dahlias and soft mounds of smoky-purple asters. To create…

Trees have a crucial role to play in the creation of a successful small garden. They add height and mass, helping to shape the space and define areas within the garden. Trees also provide a connection with nature and seasonality – something that is important in all gardens but even more so in urban or suburban spaces. Colm likes to connect his gardens to the wider landscape and often opts for species that grow naturally in the surrounding area. Among his favourite trees for a smaller garden are Malus (the crab apples), Cornus mas, Amelanchier x lamarckii, and multi-stemmed Crataegus. “I often use deciduous trees with spring blossom and good autumn colour, as they sync the garden, and the people using it, to the changing seasons,” he says. “And they…

Driving to Dungeness across the low expanse of Romney Marsh, the land seems to flatten even further, as if pressed down by the enormous sky. Modest dwellings are scattered sparsely across the shingle, among them Prospect Cottage, where Derek Jarman famously made a garden that is now gently subsiding into the beach. Follow this road to its conclusion and you are confronted by three Dungeness landmarks – the monolithic nuclear power station, a black-and-white lighthouse, and the station terminus for a defunct narrow-gauge railway. Just before you reach the station car park is a converted research station building where Emily Erlam was invited to create a garden. It could have been a daunting prospect. “It’s a harsh environment, with low rainfall, a punishing easterly wind, and not a jot of…

When you live in one of the wettest corners of the UK, and are forced to spend more time looking at your garden than sitting in it, you really want a space that will bring joy on those dull, rainy days. The courtyard garden that Renate Larkin and her husband inherited was never going to do the job. “It was just two levels of granite paving, with two retaining walls, and small planting strips at the back and in the space between the retaining walls. And that was it,” recalls Will Cooke of Artisan Landscapes, the Bristol-based design and build studio commissioned to give the space some Japanese-style calm. “Renate wanted to create a lush, immersive oasis that could almost transport you to another world,” adds Jamie Innes, Will’s partner,…

BACK TO BLACK The luxurious ‘dark spa’ building, clad in shou-sugi-ban charred timber, was designed by Neil Dusheiko Architects, who also designed the extension to the house and worked closely with Jane on the garden redesign, as they had done on other projects. Housing a gym, sauna and guest suite, its black charred-timber façade makes it the perfect backdrop for any planting while seemingly disappearing into the shadows at the same time. LEADING THE WAY A natural-looking path, of Petersen bricks laid flat within compacted gravel, leads through informal, meadow-inspired planting, down to the garden spa building. The use of the same bricks as the extension is a nice visual connection from the bottom of the garden back to the house, while laying them in gravel denotes a move away…

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1 Amsonia tabernaemontana var. salicifolia One of the real heroes of the garden for its shape and structure, with blue flowers in summer and narrow, willow-like leaves that turn yellow in autumn. 60cm x 50cm. RHS H5, USDA 3a-9b†. 2 Salvia nemorosa ‘Amethyst’ Introduces dainty prettiness to the garden and works well with the Bistorta. 60cm x 60cm. AGM*. RHS H7. 3 Hylotelephium ‘Matrona’ Stonecrops, usually in their shorter forms, grow widely in Dungeness. Hylotelephium ‘Matrona’ has been a real success in that it provides bold architectural structure at a time when the garden is waning, with exquisite browny-pink heads picking up the flowers of Bistorta as they turn from pink to deep red. 60cm x 50cm. AGM. RHS H7, USDA 3a-9b. 4 Elaeagnus ‘Quicksilver’ This delightful plant is so different…

The design brief The owners, Cambridge professionals with four young children, weren’t too prescriptive about the design for their new garden. “The brief was fairly open,” says designer Jane Brockbank, “but there were practical issues, such as ensuring there was plenty of privacy and enough space for the children to learn and play in.” The couple educate their children at home so it was vital that the space could not only be a place to relax in and enjoy looking at, but one that would offer opportunities for education and stimulation too. The overall design is, on plan, quite simple. A terrace leads from the substantially renovated house: “We didn’t need a big terrace as the large kitchen doors, when open, make you feel like you’re outside anyway,” explain the…

• One of the key requests the clients made for both architect and garden designer was to ensure a high level of privacy in the guest suite. The guest bedroom opens on to the ‘spa garden’: a semi-circular space that is bordered by 11 tall Chinese privets (Ligustrum lucidum), a great evergreen shrub that isn’t often used. • Slate pebbles and an offset boulder give a calming, almost Japanese-inspired feel. The connection between inside and out is seamless, lending a relaxed and meditative air to the intimate space – large bi-fold doors frame the view. • Woodland plants, such as Disporopsis pernyi and wild ginger Asarum europaeum, thrive beneath the Chinese privet and add to the calming green palette that also includes the alpine water fern Blechnum penna-marina and the…

Jacqueline’s top tips for using bulbs in perennial borders Order your bulbs before mid-July so you can ensure you get what you want. Plant at the right time. Snowdrops should be planted no later than early October. Smaller, early flowering bulbs, such as scilla and crocus, should be planted in the first half of October; daffodils in late October; tulips in November, when the soil is cold; and alliums in December. Plant in the right conditions. Tulips like well-drained soil and sun; daffodils can handle more moisture and shade. Let the style of the garden dictate your choice of bulbs. If it’s formal, Fritillaria imperialis would be a good choice, while a woodland area would suit bluebells. Sequence your plantings so they flower at different times, from crocus and muscari,…

Show must go on Tom Coward, head gardener at Gravetye Manor in West Sussex, offers an expert guide to achieving a long season of colour Successional planting is the secret behind this Summerhouse Border. Spring bulbs and annuals start the display, then as they fade they’re engulfed by midsummer perennials, such as Geranium psilostemon, which we cut back in mid-July. At this point we interplant late-summer annuals, such as Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Purity’, and tender perennials such as dahlias, which completely transform the border, and complement later-flowering perennials. USEFUL INFORMATION Address Gravetye Manor, Vowels Lane, West Hoathly, West Sussex RH19 4LJ. Tel 01342 810567. Web gravetyemanor.co.uk Open See website for details. *Holds an Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society. †Hardiness ratings given where available. Subtle light Graham Gough,…

Courses BETH CHATTO’S PLANTS & GARDENS The iconic garden and nursery runs several day courses as well as a 30-week Design Your Own Garden course. bethchatto.co.uk CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY BOTANIC GARDEN Various online and classroom-based courses with topics covering key gardening techniques and design. botanic.cam.ac.uk CAPEL MANOR Full and part-time and nationally certified courses within garden and landscape design. Students are encouraged to showcase their work at key horticulture events. capel.ac.uk COTSWOLD GARDENING SCHOOL Range of planning and design courses, both online and in-person from one-day workshops to the One-Year Professional Garden Design diploma course. cotswoldgardeningschool.co.uk CREATE ACADEMY Online schooling from top-notch experts. Courses include Naturalistic Garden Design Masterclass from Dan Pearson and Grow a Spectacular Garden in Pots with Arthur Parkinson. createacademy.com THE ENGLISH GARDENING SCHOOL Distance learning, short courses…