After a year so or of living in our new home, we decided to create a more formal area of garden and a vegetable garden.
The veg garden comprised of 4 L-shaped raised beds around a central bricked square with terracotta pots. The edge of the area was cobbled and the paths were filled with gold gravel. At the time, I didn’t take many photos of the veg garden, but as it had to be dismantled to make way for our annexe building, I will be documenting progress of our new veg garden later this year!
I had a vision of what I wanted; a cobbled parterre which would look just as good in winter as in summer. As the formal garden was adjacent to the veg, we wanted the it to contain subtle design similarities and use similar materials such as the cobbles and gold gravel. Our design ended up as two gravelled square (each containing 4 box balls and an Acer platanoides ‘Drummondii) at each end and then two square sections, each containing 4 L-shaped beds to mirror the shaped of the raised vegetable beds.
In terms of planting, I wanted to keep the colour palette minimal but maintain year round interest. The cobbles, gravel, trees and box balls add all year round structure and I used Liriope Muscari and Carex Oshimensis ‘Evergold’ for evergreen foliage. For spring, I added Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ and ‘Mount Everest’ and Camassia Cusickii. Summer interest is provided by Hosta ‘Regal Splendour’, Hosta ‘Seiboldiana Liatris Spicata and Perovskia.
As with the rest of my garden, this formal area will continue to evolve as I adapt to find the best plant combinations and right plant, right place. This area of my garden holds water more than elsewhere and recent wet winters haven’t helped. I’ve lost a few allium bulbs as a result but intend to move the remaining bulbs after they’ve flowered this spring and find an alternative.
