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here has been a trend for some time now
towards much more naturalistic planting.
Softer, lighter and more ephemeral with a
preference for perennials and bulbs over
shrubs, a garden realistically needs both
though to create balance.
The shrubs add bulk and scale and act as a
foil to lighter planting, so don’t do away with
them at all, perhaps just use lighter forms;
euonymus, rosa mutabilis, cercis and cornus
sanguinea work well in conjunction with
grasses and perennials.
Meadow planting with wild flowers is not easy
and certainly not low maintenance, although it
is often labelled as so.
A meadow takes dedication and often is un-
successful due to the ground it is sowed over
(meadow planting loves a thin, poor soil and
hates competition) so over the years if this light
effect is what a client desires, but they do not
have the right conditions or space, then I have
found that ornamental grasses work equally
as well, require little care and last beautifully
through the winter months.
Calamagrostis, panicum, stipa, molinia and
pennisetum create beautifully soft, waving
drifts when planted en masse that morph
from the greenest greens in the spring and
summer, through to bleached blond as the year
progresses.
Team them with allium in bold drifts or
inter-plant with aquilegia, astrantia, sedum
and late-flowering aster varieties to add colour.
Naturalistic gardening just got easier.
Where the wild
things are
KATE GOULD explains why naturalistic gardens
take a bit more planning than you might think, but
once they’re in place they can look after themselves
Clockwise from above:
aquilegia, allium
sphaerocephalon, aster,
stipa and pennisetum
For more garden inspiration visit
www.kategouldgardens.co.ukOA
gardening