The plants you include in a garden will surely influence its design – well, yes and no. In the Netherlands the native flora and different ecological habitats are celebrated in a network of so-called heemparks or native plant parks. These are not wild, woolly untidy gardens filled with wild plants, but beautifully designed, carefully orchestrated …
Is colour enough? No, in a word. Of course it is the first thing we see when looking at planting schemes and it can strongly influence their impact, but colour alone is only a small part of the challenge of designing effective perennial planting schemes. I love yellow and orange and do use these colours …
Perennial Meadows – Ideas and expression within planting design. Read More »
The two things we always and regularly do with gardens is look at them and walk within them. Of course there are more possibilities: we drink and eat there when the weather is fine, we play, we entertain and maybe use the ground for growing vegetables and herbs for the kitchen. But most often we …
The lawn is dead, long live perennial meadows – this has long been my philosophy. Last week I was in a conventional garden with grass paths and island beds and it really seemed strange, but reassuringly nostalgic! Finding the right plant for the growing conditions you have to offer and using it boldly is a …
Perennial Meadows – Mass planting, mixed planting or matrix planting? Read More »
Paintings we frame and consider as art. Gardens are sometimes considered as art, but the elements we use to frame them form part of their design and maybe also part of their “art”. Here at Perennial Meadows we are concerned with perennial planting schemes as part of a garden’s design and many of the considerations …
Spring is still a fresh memory, summer is with us and autumn is approaching; no better time then to assess our gardens and make plans. If you can manage to plant up new perennial schemes over the next two months they will be well on their way to creating a bold display next year. Here …