like new again, repointing can make a great difference, too. Paved areas could also have their shape changed by removing some slabs (for instance, taking out the corner slabs from a square or rectangular shape), perhaps replacing them with plants. Scrape away old, dirty gravel and replace it with new. If you have a large expanse of gravel or chippings, try planting evergreen shrubs or grasses to break up the expanse.
Old fences: Old fences can sometimes be repaired, saving further expense, although old fence panels are best replaced. Fence panels are often made from poor quality, thin timber strips and just don’t last that long. Carefully remove them leaving the posts, which, if still stable, can carry a new closeboard style fence. Closeboard, or featheredge fencing, outlasts fence panels by years and creates a fence that I find more attractive, more robust and secure, and much easier to maintain than panels. A closeboard fence is also easy and simple to construct even if you only have basic DIY skills (see here).
If you have a border that contains some mature shrubs, they can be cut back and rejuvenated if you want to keep them. It wouldn’t take long to get these shrubs back into shape, giving a much more coherent feel to the whole aspect.
Developing your ideas
If you have a generous budget to spend, you may wish at this stage to consider employing some professional help and advice. A good garden designer will be able to plan your garden to fit your needs, and money spent on this initially may save you making an expensive mistake in the future. Try to get a recommendation for a good garden designer from a friend or neighbour. Word of mouth based on personal experience is so much more useful than simply picking a business card pinned to the garden centre noticeboard.
Costs can be minimized if you wish to engage the garden designer for an advisory visit only. But always be sure that you ask for an explanation of costs and that you know what to expect from any visit that may occur afterwards.
Just as your own home will have a style of interior decoration, so your garden should have a particular style too. The look of a garden is partly influenced by where you live and the range of plants that will flourish in your climate. In England, a cottage garden style is very popular, whereas in Northern Australia obviously a tropical garden is more appropriate – but that’s not to say you can’t create a ‘tropical’ garden in a temperate climate or achieve a cottage garden style in Australia.
Traditionally, houses and their gardens only used local materials, so gardens matched their houses and tended to sit comfortably within their locality. Nowadays, though, there are many strong influences both from other countries and from modern garden designers. At the same time, the range of plants that are available to buy has dramatically increased and construction materials have become more affordable and much more widely available.
Whatever style of garden appeals to you, decide whether you would like to have a complete garden in that style, or just a part of it. If you use the design principal of ‘rooms’ in your garden, you could choose to include a few different styles. A Mediterranean style area, for example, would need to be in the hottest, driest and sunniest part of your garden, while you could have a tropical-style border in a sheltered spot, close to a patio or decking area. A wild area would be best situated at the bottom of your garden, as far away from the house as possible.
Whatever your preference of garden style, like the inside of your house, the biggest influence on its character will be you. Be guided by the different approaches and design principles that are shown here and in other books and magazines, and don’t worry about making the odd mistake – even the most confident gardener does that.
Graham Lucas
Blue Aquilegia ‘Hensol Harebell’, double flowered buttercups (Ranunculus acris ‘Flore Pleno’) and the soft pink flowers of Pimpinella major ‘Rosea’ combine to evoke that romantic, cottage garden look.
Cottage garden
Even though modern gardens with shiny metal, glass and plastic have become features of many garden shows, the traditional cottage garden style is still very popular. It is certainly the most romantic, and also the most comfortable style to live with. The main element of this traditional style is its informal plantings, mixing together masses of perennials, especially spires of delphiniums, hollyhocks and verbascum together with annual flowers such as lavatera, sweet peas and marigolds and climbers like honeysuckle and jasmine and, of course, deliciously scented roses. Old clay pots and traditional garden furniture add to the charm of this style.
Tropical garden
Possibly the furthest away from the cottage garden is a tropical style garden. Even in a climate not especially associated with heat, a tropical style is surprisingly easy to achieve. However, it looks best in an urban situation and works very well with modern furniture and accessories. Tender plants such as bananas and cannas will require some extra care to overwinter them, but it is well worth the effort.
The big impact for the tropical style comes from dramatic foliage. Large-leaved plants such as fatsia and paulownia work well with more architectural plants such as palms, bamboos and New Zealand flax. For flowers, fuchsias work really well, especially Fuchsia magellanica.
Plants for a tropical-style garden
Abutilon × hybridum (flowering maple)
Arundinaria (bamboo)
Brugmansia × Candida (angel’s trumpet)
Canna (Indian shot plant)
Eriobotrya japonica (loquat)
Fatsia japonica (Japanese aralia)
Fuchsia magellanica
Paulownia tomentosa (Chinese foxglove tree)
Phormium (New Zealand flax)
Trachycarpus fortunei (Chusan palm)
Even in a cool climate, a summer planting of tender plants creates a tropical effect. A variegated brugmansia and purple-leaved cannas provide both attractive foliage and flowers – but they will need winter protection from frosts.
Mediterranean garden
Even if you don’t live in the Mediterranean, many plants suited to that environment are surprisingly easy to grow, which means it is quite possible to plant a Mediterranean-style garden – just as long as you have plenty of that essential ingredient, sunshine. Despite being sun-loving and tolerant of dry conditions, many Mediterranean plants are also frost hardy, although they do need a well-drained soil to keep their roots dry in winter. Terracotta pots work well as containers and plants such as olives and citrus trees add that authentic touch. Using grit as a mulch around plants also looks very effective. Look for plants with bright colours, which are evocative of
