AIBU to want help creating a more established garden?

[Bedroomdilemmas113]

New build house. Not a huge garden but certainly not small, and a reasonably sized front too.

The problem is, I love old gardens. Not shiny grey porcelain and astroturf (neither of which I have, by the way, but every landscaper who has come to quote insists this is what I ‘need’ to be in keeping with the house(.

Any experience of gardeners, would I be better to have one? I’m struggling with long term vision - I want to plant shrubs and perennials but I want them to be large now. If I keep going, I may have a forest if I don’t get some outside knowledge…

Is this something a gardener could/would take on? Not just cutting the grass but actually helping with what to buy/plant etc?

This is really helpful, thank you! Will definitely try this.

I would love to see a photo of this please!

I have 11 metres of wide border x 2 to fill, if I did one plant a month it would take decades to finish! I love the idea though.

I don’t have the patience to give it time and effort so happy to throw money at it!

Would you like a cottage garden? You could buy lots of plug plants that are easy - delphiniums, verbena bonariensis, aquilegia, bleeding heart, roses, massive allium bulbs.

i've got a new build but when i tried to dig down i came to hard packed concrete and rubble. so it wasn’t possible for me to plant any plants in big pots as the roots are the size of the pot so that’s how far i’d have needed to dig down. so i ended up with tubs and raised beds.

So you might want to dig a test hole. it won’t take long. and if it’s ok then arrange for a gardener to come out.

just a random thought but if you have a college that does gardening qualifications perhaps they could use your garden as an example and if you send a photo of the plot thwy could give you designs to consider? it may not be possible. just a thought. especially if they could do the whole thing for a reasonable price. but again h&s these days may prevent it.

Honeysuckle and clematis are quick to grow and cover a space if you have a trellis or wall they can climb up.

I follow dearestgentle.gardener on insta and love her cottage style garden. I don’t think she’s in a new build but it’s certainly a very beautiful garden created in a normal looking plot.

Are you really willing to throw money at it? What fun. Yes you can make it look established with lots of money and a gardener.

If you're in a sheltered place, lavender is a lovely idea for the front of the border. Hollyhocks are also fun for the back. Dwarf cosmos is very easy to grow to fill up gaps. Depending on where you live and the weather you may be able to throw down the seed.

And stock. Don't forget that! Make sure the gardener knows it's there because it looks exactly like a weed.

You have t want to learn amd put the work in. Gardens take time , trial and error. If you just want to look at it you’ll need a gardener to every week.

I've recently seen a company online called Garden on a Roll. You tell them the borders or area you need, whether its shady sunny etc, and they send you a big if plants, with a roll of paper, with the names of the plant on it, so tells you exactly where they go. Its like painting by numbers but with plants and is supposed to be super easy.

I've not used it myself but it looks fabulous.

Might be worth a try.

I had a fence to fence grass garden once. I shaped the borders to make curves. I planted a couple of small fruit trees, lavenders, butterfly bushes, lavatera,hebe, choysia, cordiline. They grew quickly and were either evergreen or perennial. I then planted up geraniums and petunias im pots for extra summer colour. The trees gave height amd the shrubs a bit of structure. I learnt along the way. Get a good gardening book for beginners.

This, report your post and get it moved.

I hear you, OP. We had to renovate a semi-derelict house, and the large garden has only just stopped being a building site. Only one plant in situ — a very old apple tree. Alas, it also has poor, stony soil and is exposed, and I have no money!

Get a few boxes of wild flower seeds and shake away!

To echo a pp - make a note of where the sun goes. That gives you where to sit and also what plants will do well.

we designed a coffee bench for morning sun and a wine bench for evening sun and i LOVE it. Then have lovely plants next to those areas

The garden centre will assist with plant selection. I am buying a new build, one of my staff is a keen gardener so she will help. But will also ask garden centre and been researching.

If you don’t want to do the work yourself then you need a different gardener. Shop around. So many companies call themselves landscapers but they’re really builders who lay tiles and astroturf and build walls in gardens. You need someone who knows about plants and can build a low maintenance garden for you.

You should follow Sophie on Instagram. She has amazing ideas and walks you through each process too.

Her insta is ‘lookinsidemygarden’ - check it out!

Hia,

If you are local to Warwickshire / midlands then get in touch 😊

https://www.theplantnursery.co.uk

This is exactly why I have set up this new business.

We have an already established landscape studio but that’s not what most people need for a new build. It’s mainly cost effective planting design people need.

If you planting a whole garden it pays to get a professional because they can source trade plants.

I will say though it’s not a great idea to plant a whole garden in summer unless you want to spend the whole time watering. So you really need to do it fast, or take your time to plan and plant later when you can see what summer weather is going to be like.

Goodluck

I planted most of our garden from scratch- it’s an old cottage with a big tiered garden, but the previous owner hated gardening and had gravelled over almost all of it, including the lawn. The one advantage we did have was that she had left a big established hydrangea, a lilac tree, and a few ornamental bushes on one side.

After 3 years, most of the gravelled beds look pretty established. The plants I found made impact the fastest were:

-Rudbeckia (I used the Goldsturm variety, it forms big clumps and looks like it’s dead at the end of each year, but always grows back)
-Roses (I was on a mega budget and got a load of bare roots in a Thompson and Morgan sale for £1 a pop. They can take time to establish but one had tons of flowers the first year with a big scoop of homemade compost in the bottom of the hole and regular feeding)
-Giant allium bulbs. (Pop them in the ground and they come back year after year with big foliage.)
-Perennial salvias (like hot lips or royal bumble, get big quick if they like where you’ve planted them)
-Yarrow/achillea
-Castor oil plant (although no-one gets why I like these so much, I have a big one as the centre piece of my front bed and think it looks tropical)
-Crocosmia (you can buy as established plants but I think you get more impact by spending the money on a lot more crocosmia bulbs and planting in clumps. They will form bigger clumps quickly and fill out gaps, you’ll need to divide them when they get congested)
-Agapanthus (planting bulbs or bare roots is cheaper by far than established plants and they are foolproof in my experience. I recommend putting them in pots as they like having their roots constricted, they will again form clumps and need dividing- free plants!)

I also recommend getting bulbs/corms in for staggered growth all year round, they’ll brighten the garden, you’ll forget what you buried where and it’s all a lovely surprise. Tulips, daffodils, crocosmia, alliums, gladioli, anemones, lilies etc. Just make sure you’re planting them during the recommended periods for best results.

Oh gosh yes a buddleia will certainly do that. Our neighbours pruned their front garden one back to a stump last year, it is already taller than me and in magnificent condition.

I love my castor oil plant too, I am surprised you find most people aren't keen.
They love the shade and grow big and impressive.

Choose some perennials and get them in. Add a few more every year. Dahlias are great as are roses. We bought a house with a lovely established garden but in the 4 years we’ve been here, I’ve added more beds. The newer beds look better already than the established ones. Even a bed I added last year is looking lovely. I have an entire dahlia garden which I beautiful all summer into probably October. Just crack on and it will look great by mid summer.

Get somebody RHS trained to come and advise you. Test your soil.