Oliver Borrow: Outside spaces
Garden designer Oliver Borrow transforms outside spaces
Get ready
Now is the time of year when one starts to longingly look forward to those warmer days of spring. It is also the time of year to start preparing. When the sun does finally arrive, those of us lucky enough to be living in the South are in the best place to enjoy it. You may be ready and waiting for the warmth of spring, but is your outside space ready?
There are a few things we can be doing now to brighten up our gardens. Why not pop down to your local garden centre and see what bulbs and spring flowers are available so that they can be in full bloom ready for your first morning coffee outside (or if you’re like me the first glass of wine on the terrace in the spring sun).
Putting in some plants may help, but to really get the most out of your garden for this year and for many years to come you need to plan the structure. The most important thing is to ensure that your exterior space suits you and your lifestyle. You could have a go yourself, work out what you want from the space, what you want to do in it, how you want the space to feel, how you can enjoy it the most and where the areas of sun and shade are, and then combine these factors to ensure the space is working for you. One guaranteed way to do this is to bring in a garden designer. You will be surprised how much extra use you get from your garden and how much more pleasure and outdoor living can be achieved by expertly combining your needs and lifestyle with your outside space.
As a garden designer I am always on the lookout for inspiration so I headed to Pashley Manor in East Sussex for some spring time ideas. The gardens work so well all year round because the garden has such good structure. Strong lines and a
backbone of evergreen shrub planting give a timeless feel to the
space. Hundreds of spring bulbs give a gloriously colourful herald to the coming of
the warmer months.
If you would like a free and friendly chat about how to get the most from your outdoor space or simply to get some of your borders looking fabulous, give me a call on
07773 764 212 or visit the website www.oliverborrow.co.uk
Spring Plants
Spring plants start with the dainty and delicate heads of the snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis). As the cold gives way and the snowdrops start to wither, it is a sign for some of the brighter plants to burst forward and invite the coming of the sun. None say this with more colour and variety than the well known daffodil (Narcissus).
However, spring is not the time for planting these (for best results daffodils need to have been planted as bulbs back in the autumn) although most garden centres do sell them flowering in pots. Now is the time to think about not just the structure of the hard materials such as paving, but also of the planting. Structural shrubs with strong shapes can be planted once the hard frosts have gone. Last spring I planted some standard Photinia ‘Red Robin’ trees which have fabulously bright red leaves at the beginning of the year and added a strong, year round feature to the border.
Even if you don’t have the budget for a full garden make-over you may well be able to enhance your outside space with some clever planting.
