This week I presented a planting design for some clients in Sudbury who moved into a new-build property last year. Apart from the hard landscaping, the garden was a complete blank canvas and they brought me in to design the layout for some new beds and borders, and the planting for them. They wanted a focus on lots of colour, interest throughout the year, and attracting wildlife.
Even though this is a relatively small space, I have been able to create a slightly different theme for each bed, with repeated plants and colours that link them all for a cohesive feel.
This bed at the rear of the garden has a strong focus on winter and spring interest. As the summer show fades and winter looms, it can be easy to draw our gaze inwards and hunker down. This will encourage looking beyond the patio and out into the garden. The backdrop is a black-clad timber workshop, so the vibrant stems of the Cornus will really sing. The layout also ensures that it will look good from both sides.
Colour inspiration was taken from the unusual fruits of the Strawberry tree.
