Creating a garden from scratch can be a daunting task when you’re not sure what to plant where. This can be particularly challenging when all you have in your garden is hard landscaping and a bit of grass, and it can be difficult to picture how the space might look in the future. I jumped at the chance to help a client with a blank space and empty beds in the beautiful city of Ely.

The client had just finished a major renovation of their home, extending a rebuilding a bungalow. This had left the garden in a sorry state, and they had no structured seating area or place to entertain friends and loved ones. After deciding to pave a large area and add a pergola and a new fence, they also created a circular patio to create visual interest and a sunny place to enjoy the evening rays. As their soil was very heavy clay, they elected to create raised beds in the area, bringing in new loam earth which would support a greater range of plants. They had also added two standard Photonia ‘Red Robin’ trees to the ends of the bed around the circular patio, as they are particular fans of the tree.

There is a huge planting space to fill overall in the garden, with new beds all the way along the fence, behind the pergola and also a second half of the garden yet to be planned and landscaped. For instant impact in an area which they look out onto from their kitchen and dining area, the client decided to focus their immediate budget on planting up the circular area, both to soften the new landscaping and to compliment the Photonia trees already in place.

The client had limited time to dedicate to selecting plants and so asked me to support them as they went around the garden centre, ensuring they were selecting plants which would thrive in their space, but also provide year-round interest and textural depth.

For inspiration, the client had a painting of two roses which she particularly loved, aiming to bring the colours of the painting into the tonal scheme for the garden. Wonderfully, this meant we had lots of blue, silver, green, pink and yellow shades to play with.

As well as providing year round interest through evergreen shrubs and trees, we needed to ensure to add planting which would also create varying heights and movement through the beds. The client wanted to be able to step over low plants into the circular patio at various points, as well as needing to soften the drastic height difference between the Photonia trees and the bare soil with taller plants.

We began with selecting two trees for the space, an Acer 'Amagi Shigure' for the shady corner adjacent to the pergola, followed by a multi-stem Cotinus ‘Royal Purple’ (also known as a smoke bush thanks to its stunningly dusky purple foliage). We then looked at creating structure with textured evergreen foliage, selecting a range of hebes (a particular favourite of the client), Viburnum tinus as well as several varieties of Dryopteris fern, which would be able to cope with the dappled sun of the slatted fence. We added grasses and a number of Pittosporum ‘Bannow Bay’, whose stunning variegated foliage would work well with both perennial flowers and the colours of the smoke bush and the hebes.

We then worked to incorporate colour through the perennials, adding three Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost', Salvia ‘Hot Lips’, Perovskia 'Blue Spire', Salvia ‘Amistad’, Nepeta ‘Purrsian Blue’, Heuchera ‘Plum Pudding’ and ‘Paprika’, all planted in groups to create drifts of colour.

After the garden centre trip, I then helped the client to position the plants where they would thrive, considering eventual height, spread and position in the sun. The client chose to pack the beds a little tighter to give more instant impact, knowing they could divide and move some of the perennials next spring or autumn into other areas of the garden yet to be planned. The plants would not be wasted, nor would the budget.

Considering the planting outlook from various points of the garden, to ensure the view will be right from all sides of the circle.

I left the client to dig in the plants when they had more time later that evening and look forward to seeing photos of the garden as the foliage and flowers spread to fill the area. We plan to tackle the adjoining raised beds when the budget allows, as well as selecting climbers for the fence to maximise the vertical space. I can’t wait to see this beautiful space evolve and be full of bees, butterflies and wildlife.

An empty space in a sunny south-facing garden

Perfect plants for a pet-friendly garden in SW London