Design A Garden

[Drusilla]

I recently moved into a new property and have a blank canvass of a garden on which to grow this year.
I hate ordered gardens with straight rows of pansies and the like and would love a garden centred around lavender and bushes that attract bees and do not leave large areas of soil on view.
I would be grateful for suggestions for my ordered chaos of a garden. :-)

[andyjevs]

Why not go for a traditional cottage garden with lots of tradional herbaceous perennials, hardy annuals, roses, herbs and small shrubs.
Underplant with spring bulbs such as snowdrops, crocus, mini daffs and woodland anemones.

Make sure the borders are wide and sweeping and go for drifts or groups of plants. Mix flowering seasons along with foliage colour and texture and get some scent in there....specially winter and early spring scent such as mahonia, sarcococca and daphne.

Lastly, if you can get a dwarf lime tree ( Tillia sp) that flowers....the bees love them. Add some spring flowering heathers, rosemary and lavender and your garden will be a riot of colour and insect life in a very short space of time.

Can't wait to see the photos !!!

[andyjevs]

Or.....you could go for a garden where every plant is benificial to animals and insects.

Plants that attract bees and hoverflies, moths and butterflies, birds and other insects.....there's just so much choice.

Or a garden where every plant is sweetly scented either by foliage or flower.....that would be my idea of heaven.

[mullein3]

you can design your own garden on the bbc site which may be usefull to you..you can also purchase lots of different sorts of lavender plants from barwinock herbs for �1.50 each they do a mail order catalogue or online..you can also buy mixed packets of wild flower seeds some say to attract butterflys on them some say to attract birds you only have to scatter these in the soil the end of march and by june you wont see the soil..also they self seed..if you have time look on bill oddies site on the bbc he tells you how to plan a wild life garden to attract birds frogs etc...you could also dig a small pool its really easy i did it last year..you just dig a square or round hole put the liner in and fill it up ..then you can plant grasses and wildflowers round it..the best thing to do is decide where you want to sit in the garden and plant around that area so you have something to look at..you will also need some height so you can make some wigwams out of sticks and grow climbing roses or honeysuckle..or for a fast effect go for sweet peas or even runner beans..

[gucciman]

it all depends on whether you want a high or low maintainence garden i.e do you have the time to spend hours in the garden or are you a busy person.

if you dont like formal gardens then design it with curved meandering flower beds, perhaps put a wildlife pond in.

lavender bushes go perfectly with roses as the lavender deters greenfly. have a look at buddleias too, they attract butterflies like crazy.