Plants are beautiful in so many different ways that they are extremely versatile in their use in the garden. The key to successful planting lies in establishing a good basic framework and building up a balanced collection of permanent and seasonal-interest plants.
Choosing Key Plants
To give your garden a firm structure, which will keep it looking attractive all year with minimal maintenance, select a few key plants to form the 'backbone' of your garden planting. These structural ingredients will be medium and large evergreen plants -- mostly shrubs, trees, conifers and bamboos. Due to the space they take up, structural plants need to have long-term appeal, so try to see beyond the immediate appeal of their flowers. Look for attributes such as handsome evergreen foliage, attractively shaped or colored leaves, interesting bark or more than one season of interest -- like spring flowers and autumn fruit.
A Garden for All Seasons
Ensuring that your garden looks good throughout the year is a balancing act between choosing large, "backbone" plants and leaving enough room for infill plants that will provide a succession of color. Decide first what to grow for winter and early spring interest, when there is a scarcity of plants looking their best. After selecting and placing them, choose plants for autumn, late spring and summer -- in that order.
First Things First
If your garden is big enough for trees, choose these first and take their shape into consideration -- their many forms include columnar, upright, wide-spreading and weeping. Then decide on evergreen shrubs and conifers. These plants, which are wonderful for providing year-round structure and of great value in winter, should make up around one-third of all your medium-sized to large plants. Try not to increase that proportion, or the garden will start to appear static and boring. Include a few bold and architectural evergreens, with large or spiky leaves or a striking shape. Finally, incorporate deciduous shrubs with attractive foliage that looks its best from spring to autumn. These make a fantastic backdrop to a variety of different flowers.
When choosing and positioning your larger plants, take into account their eventual height and spread, and allow them room to fill out. Correctly spaced plants look very gappy at first but will grow surprisingly quickly.
Infill Planting
Once you have positioned the key plants, move on to perennials, roses, small shrubs and ornamental grasses.
A few should have long-lasting, attractive foliage, but many can give shorter, showier bursts of color at different times of the year.
It generally works best to place the large plants towards the back of a border and grade down to the smaller ones at the front, but it pays to have an occasional tall plant at the front, if it has a light, airy habit, like giant oat grass (Stipa gigantea) or Verbena bonariensis.
Leave a few spaces for seasonal performers, those annuals and bedding plants that will bloom for months on end, at least until the end of summer.
Sow hardy annuals, which arc tolerant of frost, directly into the ground, and plant out tender perennials and half-hardy annuals once all danger of frost is past
Planting in Layers
In a small garden or where you want to pack in more plants, maximize color in the available space by 'layering' the different-sized plants in tiers. You might start with a tree like a birch or sorbus that casts only a light, dappled shade so that you can plant underneath it. There put in medium-sized shrubs that thrive in dappled shade, such as dogwoods (Cornus alba varieties), philadelphus and viburnums. Beneath these, plant a carpet of shade-tolerant perennials or plants at their best in winter or spring, before the large shrubs start to produce leaves. Suitable plants include vincas, epimediums, winter heathers {Erica earned), hellebores and pulmonarias. Plant colourful spring bulbs in between.
Using Climbers
After several years, when the large plants are well established, it is possible to squeeze in more flowers by planting climbers to grow through these living supports. Choose them with care, as some vigorous climbers will overwhelm their hosts. Well-behaved climbers include large-flowered hybrid clematis, C. viticella varieties, the perennial pea {Lathyrus latifolius) and golden hop (Humulus lupulus 'Aureus'). In a very small garden with no room for trees or shrubs, climbers are invaluable for bringing interest to walls and fences.
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