Planting plan, planning your garden, garden planning

planting plan, garden planning

The planting plan shows the position of each plant, or group of plants. The planting is carefully designed taking account of soil type, light and shade, and will also give colour and interest throughout the year whilst keeping maintenance to a sensible minimum. (Further information on the plants themselves and their care is covered by the maintenance guide). Each plant on the plan is numbered. The numbers correspond to the reference numbers in the plant list and Maintenance guide. Plant List. The plant list summaries all of the plants required for your garden and the total quantity needed. Click on any Garden below for a large image, planting plan, and list of plants. Click here for information about our plans. Due to the high quality of the plan images, there may be a brief delay in loading. We appreciate your patience.

Many people find shady borders to be problematical to plant. Indeed the shade beneath a dense evergreen tree may only allow the planting of real toughies such as ivy (Hedera) and dead nettle (Lamium), although this is often more the result of the dense tree roots than the shade itself. However, if you have dappled or partial shade, or a north-facing border then you may be surprised by the range of plants you can grow. (For a detailed description of shade types see Marge Talt's article on Types of Shade

The planting plan below gives a scheme for a north-facing border, with no direct sunlight in autumn, winter and spring, but plenty of reflected light. In summer, it receives one or two hours of sunlight at the end of the day. It is backed by a 6' high panel fence, which is covered with climbers. The colour scheme is mixture of green, golden and variegated foliage with yellow and white flowers with the odd splash of magenta. It might look rather garish in full sunlight, but is great for brightening a dull, shady area. Variegated or golden foliage is alternated with plain green for contrast. All the plants are hardy in the majority of Britain, zone 8.

It is always worth experimenting with the plants that will grow in your patch of shade. Reference books often play safe with their recommendations, but I have found that you can stretch the limits quite a lot. Obviously, don't spend a lot of money on a plant that is recommended for full sun and plant it in dense shade, but if you have surplus plants (from seed, cuttings, divisions or from friends), then place a few in shade and see how they do. Plants that really don't do well in shade are most silver-leafed plants (apart from Anaphalis) and Mediterranean-type plants such as rosemary and Cistus, which will grow lopsided and straggly trying to reach the light. You may find that some plants grow well in the shade, but perhaps do not flower as freely as they do in full sun.

Our bog planting plan fills an oblong-shaped bed that is 6 ft. by 10 ft. The bed should be dug about a foot deep and lined with plastic for greater moisture retention. Supplemental irrigation can be supplied by a soaker hose or drainage pipe connected to a gutter downspout or sump pump. There are two periods of bloom for plants in this bed. The majority will bloom in spring, with yellow, blue and white as the featured colors. Hosta and ferns add their interesting foliage throughout the growing season. Later in the summer, pink astilbe joins with turtlehead (available in white, pink or red). The ideal site for this bed is part shade in zones 4 to 8. To view the arrangement of these perennial flowers in a drawing, an accompanying drought-tolerant landscape plan has been provided. This landscape plan indicates which perennial flowers should be placed in the back row, which in the middle row and which in front row. The perennial bed in this example is approximately 15’ long by 11’ wide. Adjust spacing accordingly for your own perennial beds, depending on their dimensions.