10 Ways to Bring Your Interior Style into Your Garden
Express your style outdoors with planting, just as you would with your furnishings and materials indoors
The interior style of your home reflects your character and taste, and choosing the right look is something you probably devote a lot of time to. When it comes to the garden, a lot of thought is given to external materials and structures, but how much consideration do you give to your planting style? Inspiration can come from the surrounding landscape or the desire to create a particular look for your garden, and also your preferred decorating style – do you favour a minimal, modern interior, or are you a fan of bold colour and pattern? Here are some tips for extending your personal style choices out into the garden.
Keep it formal
A very formal garden can be the ideal style choice for a traditional home and the space it defines, particularly if the space is symmetrical. Low-clipped hedging can create myriad interesting patterns on the ground.
Manicured and controlled, this style of garden looks good all year round, with small seasonal variations in the background planting. The seasons can also be celebrated with pots full of spring bulbs or summer annuals.
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A very formal garden can be the ideal style choice for a traditional home and the space it defines, particularly if the space is symmetrical. Low-clipped hedging can create myriad interesting patterns on the ground.
Manicured and controlled, this style of garden looks good all year round, with small seasonal variations in the background planting. The seasons can also be celebrated with pots full of spring bulbs or summer annuals.
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Plant a grass garden
Ornamental grasses are infinite in their subtle textures, colours and outline. They work well when set against clean, modern lines and are generally low maintenance, too, making them an ideal choice in many urban gardens. Wonderfully translucent, their inflorescences catch low morning or evening light, and this, coupled with their ability to move in the slightest breeze adds life and welcome movement to any outdoor space.
Ornamental grasses are infinite in their subtle textures, colours and outline. They work well when set against clean, modern lines and are generally low maintenance, too, making them an ideal choice in many urban gardens. Wonderfully translucent, their inflorescences catch low morning or evening light, and this, coupled with their ability to move in the slightest breeze adds life and welcome movement to any outdoor space.
Suit the conditions
Even if you hanker after a particular look, you have to be realistic about the type of planting that will thrive in your plot. A very shady garden can seem like an impossible challenge, but the limitations it confers can also be used to its advantage.
Plants suitable for shady woodland gardens offer a symphony of textures and shades of green. Fine textured ferns, arching grasses and sedges, spring-flowering hellebores and other shade-tolerant plants combined with spring bulbs create a subtle and calm space.
Even if you hanker after a particular look, you have to be realistic about the type of planting that will thrive in your plot. A very shady garden can seem like an impossible challenge, but the limitations it confers can also be used to its advantage.
Plants suitable for shady woodland gardens offer a symphony of textures and shades of green. Fine textured ferns, arching grasses and sedges, spring-flowering hellebores and other shade-tolerant plants combined with spring bulbs create a subtle and calm space.
Get that mediterranean look
If your garden is very dry then you might consider planting a garden whose inspiration comes from a dryer region of the world. Certain plants instantly evoke warm, dry climes – lavender, thyme, rosemary and other grey-leaved drought-loving plants. Couple these with some warm-toned gravel, stone and terracotta pots to achieve this kind of Mediterranean look. Many drought-tolerant plants also are high in aromatic oils, so you get the added bonus of scent.
If your garden is very dry then you might consider planting a garden whose inspiration comes from a dryer region of the world. Certain plants instantly evoke warm, dry climes – lavender, thyme, rosemary and other grey-leaved drought-loving plants. Couple these with some warm-toned gravel, stone and terracotta pots to achieve this kind of Mediterranean look. Many drought-tolerant plants also are high in aromatic oils, so you get the added bonus of scent.
Welcome to the jungle
By choosing plants with large leaves and bold textures you can achieve a lush, exuberant, tropical look. Bamboos, coarse grasses, even banana plants if you have a mild climate, can give the effect. Other plants that would contribute well to the look would be rhododendrons, schefflera and, of course, all kinds of ferns.
By choosing plants with large leaves and bold textures you can achieve a lush, exuberant, tropical look. Bamboos, coarse grasses, even banana plants if you have a mild climate, can give the effect. Other plants that would contribute well to the look would be rhododendrons, schefflera and, of course, all kinds of ferns.
Embrace perennials
Planting styles, like any other style, can fall in and out of fashion. One of the strongest and most fashionable movements in planting right now is perennial planting combined with ornamental grasses, planted in large swathes akin to a meadow. Inspired by the flowers of natural prairies, it is a look full of movement, light and colour. Good perennials to combine with grasses include Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’, Knautias, Alliums, Poppies and Kniphofias.
Though generally used in larger gardens, the idea can also be adapted to smaller gardens – try ditching a conventional lawn for a perennial meadow instead. Or if your space is very limited, use a simple palette of shorter grasses such as Briza media or Stipa tenuissima along with smaller perennials – Dianthus carthusianorum, Sedums, Dicentras and Astrantias, along with spring bulbs.
Planting styles, like any other style, can fall in and out of fashion. One of the strongest and most fashionable movements in planting right now is perennial planting combined with ornamental grasses, planted in large swathes akin to a meadow. Inspired by the flowers of natural prairies, it is a look full of movement, light and colour. Good perennials to combine with grasses include Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’, Knautias, Alliums, Poppies and Kniphofias.
Though generally used in larger gardens, the idea can also be adapted to smaller gardens – try ditching a conventional lawn for a perennial meadow instead. Or if your space is very limited, use a simple palette of shorter grasses such as Briza media or Stipa tenuissima along with smaller perennials – Dianthus carthusianorum, Sedums, Dicentras and Astrantias, along with spring bulbs.
Try ‘loose’ control
The hand of man is everywhere in this garden, from the clipped box balls to the perfect espaliers which form the backdrop. Yet its lack of symmetry means that it retains a lot of movement and interest. The space is neat and controlled, and yet, due to the apparent whimsical placement of the box spheres and their subtle variation in size, it creates a soft and relaxing space. A good advertisement for embracing asymmetry, this garden offers a modern take on the more rigid, formal style.
The hand of man is everywhere in this garden, from the clipped box balls to the perfect espaliers which form the backdrop. Yet its lack of symmetry means that it retains a lot of movement and interest. The space is neat and controlled, and yet, due to the apparent whimsical placement of the box spheres and their subtle variation in size, it creates a soft and relaxing space. A good advertisement for embracing asymmetry, this garden offers a modern take on the more rigid, formal style.
Go wild
Manicured gardens are not for everyone. The magic of a wild garden is something that appeals to all ages and echoes a more relaxed personal style –it can also be more forgiving with regard to maintenance, too. A wildflower meadow coupled with some planting that will hold its own, such as the acanthus (the tall, purple spires seen here), can be an easy-care option. The background and foreground hedges veer towards the natural – not too clipped and controlled.
Manicured gardens are not for everyone. The magic of a wild garden is something that appeals to all ages and echoes a more relaxed personal style –it can also be more forgiving with regard to maintenance, too. A wildflower meadow coupled with some planting that will hold its own, such as the acanthus (the tall, purple spires seen here), can be an easy-care option. The background and foreground hedges veer towards the natural – not too clipped and controlled.
Be a minimalist
For a very pared-down look, all of the focus here is on one tree. Its multi-stem trunk is very sculptural and its crown acts as the roof and frame of the space. Living walls and hedges create a subtle green backdrop. Green is one of the calmest colours and, coupled with the grey paving and simple, but beautiful furniture that both echo the lines of the house, the whole space is in harmony.
What kind of planting style do you have in your garden – or which of these ideas would you like to have in it? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.
For a very pared-down look, all of the focus here is on one tree. Its multi-stem trunk is very sculptural and its crown acts as the roof and frame of the space. Living walls and hedges create a subtle green backdrop. Green is one of the calmest colours and, coupled with the grey paving and simple, but beautiful furniture that both echo the lines of the house, the whole space is in harmony.
What kind of planting style do you have in your garden – or which of these ideas would you like to have in it? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.
If your chosen style is soft and vintage-inspired, the pale pinks of roses and the blowsy blues of catmint seen here, combined with other delicate perennials, creates a wistful, romantic style that feels old-fashioned and nostalgic. Choose old roses that are richly scented and edge your paths with aromatic foliage, such as lavender or catmint, which will release their perfume when you brush against them.
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