The working palette
Forty plants, used properly, will make almost any garden.
This is not a catalogue. It is the shortlist the studio returns to because these plants are reliable in our soil, they look like something in winter, and they do not need staking, dividing or apologising for.
How to read it
- Height
- in flower, year three
- Density
- plants per m²
- Aspect
- S sun · P part · Sh shade
- Soil
- assumed clay loam
Perennials
| Plant | Common name | Height | Per m² | Aspect | In flower |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amsonia hubrichtii | Blue star | 90 cm | 3 | S | May–Jun, gold in Oct |
| Salvia nemorosa 'Caradonna' | Balkan clary | 60 cm | 5 | S | Jun–Jul, again Sep |
| Geranium 'Rozanne' | Cranesbill | 45 cm | 3 | S / P | Jun–Oct |
| Echinacea pallida | Pale coneflower | 100 cm | 4 | S | Jul–Aug |
| Persicaria amplexicaulis | Red bistort | 110 cm | 3 | S / P | Jul–Oct |
| Astrantia major | Masterwort | 60 cm | 5 | P | Jun–Aug |
| Actaea simplex | Bugbane | 150 cm | 2 | P / Sh | Sep–Oct |
| Epimedium × versicolor | Barrenwort | 30 cm | 7 | Sh | Apr |
Grasses, and why there are so many
| Plant | What it does | Height | Per m² | Cut back |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sesleria autumnalis | Low matrix through everything else; stays tidy | 40 cm | 7 | Feb, comb through |
| Molinia caerulea 'Transparent' | See-through veil; best in low autumn sun | 150 cm | 2 | Dec, it collapses |
| Hakonechloa macra | The one grass for dry shade under a boundary | 40 cm | 5 | Mar |
| Deschampsia cespitosa | Cloud of flower over June; native, takes damp | 120 cm | 3 | Feb |
| Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster' | Vertical, architectural, stands all winter | 180 cm | 3 | Late Feb |
Grasses are half of most of our plans because they do the two things flowers cannot: they move, and they are still there in January. A border of perennials alone is beautiful for fourteen weeks and embarrassing for the rest.
How a plan gets put together
Matrix, then drifts, then accents
A low grass covers perhaps half the ground as a matrix. Drifts of three to five species run through it in uneven groups. Then no more than two accent plants, repeated, which is what your eye actually follows down the border.
Odd numbers, uneven shapes
Threes, fives, sevens, in shapes that are longer than they are wide and never a circle. A round clump of nine reads as a shrub; a drift of nine reads as a planting.
Repeat across the space
Every species appears at least twice, at different sizes, at opposite ends. Repetition is what makes a mixed border look intended rather than accumulated.
Plant small, plant densely
Nine-centimetre pots rather than two-litre. They cost a third, establish faster, and by the second summer you cannot tell — and the density is what keeps the weeding down for the next decade.