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Choosing a garden style

Just as your own home will have a style of interior decoration, so your garden should have a particular style too. The look of a garden is partly influenced by where you live and the range of plants that will flourish in your climate. In England, a cottage garden style is very popular, whereas in Northern Australia obviously a tropical garden is more appropriate – but that’s not to say you can’t create a ‘tropical’ garden in a temperate climate or achieve a cottage garden style in Australia.

Traditionally, houses and their gardens only used local materials, so gardens matched their houses and tended to sit comfortably within their locality. Nowadays, though, there are many strong influences both from other countries and from modern garden designers. At the same time, the range of plants that are available to buy has dramatically increased and construction materials have become more affordable and much more widely available.

Whatever style of garden appeals to you, decide whether you would like to have a complete garden in that style, or just a part of it. If you use the design principal of ‘rooms’ in your garden, you could choose to include a few different styles. A Mediterranean style area, for example, would need to be in the hottest, driest and sunniest part of your garden, while you could have a tropical-style border in a sheltered spot, close to a patio or decking area. A wild area would be best situated at the bottom of your garden, as far away from the house as possible.

Whatever your preference of garden style, like the inside of your house, the biggest influence on its character will be you. Be guided by the different approaches and design principles that are shown here and in other books and magazines, and don’t worry about making the odd mistake – even the most confident gardener does that.

Graham Lucas

Blue Aquilegia ‘Hensol Harebell’, double flowered buttercups (Ranunculus acris ‘Flore Pleno’) and the soft pink flowers of Pimpinella major ‘Rosea’ combine to evoke that romantic, cottage garden look.

Cottage garden

Even though modern gardens with shiny metal, glass and plastic have become features of many garden shows, the traditional cottage garden style is still very popular. It is certainly the most romantic, and also the most comfortable style to live with. The main element of this traditional style is its informal plantings, mixing together masses of perennials, especially spires of delphiniums, hollyhocks and verbascum together with annual flowers such as lavatera, sweet peas and marigolds and climbers like honeysuckle and jasmine and, of course, deliciously scented roses. Old clay pots and traditional garden furniture add to the charm of this style.

Tropical garden

Possibly the furthest away from the cottage garden is a tropical style garden. Even in a climate not especially associated with heat, a tropical style is surprisingly easy to achieve. However, it looks best in an urban situation and works very well with modern furniture and accessories. Tender plants such as bananas and cannas will require some extra care to overwinter them, but it is well worth the effort.

The big impact for the tropical style comes from dramatic foliage. Large-leaved plants such as fatsia and paulownia work well with more architectural plants such as palms, bamboos and New Zealand flax. For flowers, fuchsias work really well, especially Fuchsia magellanica.

Plants for a tropical-style garden

Abutilon × hybridum (flowering maple)

Arundinaria (bamboo)

Brugmansia × Candida (angel’s trumpet)

Canna (Indian shot plant)

Eriobotrya japonica (loquat)

Fatsia japonica (Japanese aralia)

Fuchsia magellanica

Paulownia tomentosa (Chinese foxglove tree)

Phormium (New Zealand flax)

Trachycarpus fortunei (Chusan palm)

Even in a cool climate, a summer planting of tender plants creates a tropical effect. A variegated brugmansia and purple-leaved cannas provide both attractive foliage and flowers – but they will need winter protection from frosts.

Mediterranean garden

Even if you don’t live in the Mediterranean, many plants suited to that environment are surprisingly easy to grow, which means it is quite possible to plant a Mediterranean-style garden – just as long as you have plenty of that essential ingredient, sunshine. Despite being sun-loving and tolerant of dry conditions, many Mediterranean plants are also frost hardy, although they do need a well-drained soil to keep their roots dry in winter. Terracotta pots work well as containers and plants such as olives and citrus trees add that authentic touch. Using grit as a mulch around plants also looks very effective. Look for plants with bright colours, which are evocative of the Mediterranean, and many plants from that region also have aromatic foliage.

Gravel also forms an excellent backdrop for a Mediterranean-style garden. The first gravel garden I ever saw was at Beth Chatto’s now legendary garden in Essex and I was quite overwhelmed. I could not believe how many beautiful plants were thriving in such seemingly inhospitable conditions. If you are thinking about converting a lawn into a gravel garden, you will first have to remove existing turf and eradicate perennial weeds. If you have a large area, hire a turf cutter to save time and your back. Turf weighs a ton! (Don’t waste any turf – once removed, pieces can be stacked upside down and covered with black polythene for 12 months. This will rot down and make a crumbly, even textured loam suitable as topsoil.)

The area will need digging over, and if the soil is not already sandy or gravely, you will need to add plenty of grit or gravel as well as some well-rotted organic matter. You may consider hiring a Rotovator for this equally back-breaking task, but any investment made now will bring great rewards to your garden for years to come. Remember that plants from the Mediterranean region need full sun and dry roots in winter. Also, they look much better if they are spaced further apart than most plants.

Plants for a Mediterranean-style garden

Cistus spp. (rock rose)

Cordyline australis (cabbage palm)

Cupressus sempervirens (Italian cypress)

Lavandula stoechas (lavender)

Olea europaea (olive)

Pelargonium spp.

Phlomis fruticosa (Jerusalem sage)

Rosmarinus (rosemary)

Santolina virens (cotton lavender)

Vitis vinifera (grape vine)

Excellent drainage and full sun is essential for these succulents. Aeonium arboreum, opuntia and aloe add that Mediterranean feel to any planting.

Formal garden

Choosing between a formal or informal style is like deciding whether to wear jeans and T-shirt or a tweed suit. Most of us like a bit of both, although not at the same time, which is why it is wise to choose a style appropriate to the occasion and stick with it. Of course, in many gardens there is the opportunity to try out several styles, but the smaller the space, the better it is to use just one.

Formal designs work really well in small spaces and can help them appear bigger than they actually are. Furthermore, the formal style can take on quite different characteristics. For example, a formal Japanese-style garden would focus more on glorifying nature and use more natural lines as well as asymmetry. Conversely, formal gardens in the West usually reflect man dominating his landscape by using symmetry, geometry and proportion with a greater emphasis on hard landscaping details, and it is these things that essentially characterize the formal style. The use of focal points such as pots, sculptures or topiary is also associated with a formal setting.

The use of symmetry and focal points creates a strong feeling of formality in this garden, even though the planting style in the rest of the area is more relaxed and flowing.

Wild garden

Many people are now increasingly aware of wildlife and wish to attract birds, bees and butterflies into their gardens (see here). Whenever you create a garden area they will all come, but to attract the greatest variety of wildlife, think of adopting a wild garden style, possibly just in one area, rather than for your whole garden.

If you have the space, grass that is left unmown is a wonderful feature. Mow a pathway through the long grass, and then you can explore the many wild flowers that appear in the long grass. These will, in turn, attract many butterflies, moths and other creatures. Plant native trees and shrubs, too, and also make use of cultivated varieties of native plants. Honeysuckles can be grown up any new or existing trees that you may have and they will attract moths, which will, in turn, attract bats.

Introducing water is possibly the single biggest thing you can do to attract more wildlife to your garden. An informal pond with plenty of native marginal plants (see here) will quickly attract frogs, toads and many invertebrates. A wildlife garden, then, is more of a feature than a garden style, but it does have a particular look, and can still be a very colourful affair.

Grass left unmown allows wild flowers to grow. Here ox-eye daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare) look delightful among the long grasses, and will encourage wildlife, too.

Contemporary garden

A favourite style for smaller urban spaces, where there may be no strong feeling coming from historic architecture or countryside views, a contemporary style usually relies on a degree of formality, often using strong geometric lines and plants with architectural qualities. Hard landscaping materials are usually sleek and modern, with stainless steel, glass, plastic and industrial metalwork being popular. A clean, uncluttered look is essential for creating a contemporary style of garden; smooth rendered walls are more effective than brick or stone; and because foliage often works better than flowers in this type of setting, masonry can be painted to be the main source of colour in the garden. Containers and furniture must also reflect the fashion of the garden. When selecting plants choose simple blocks or lines of single varieties; grasses, bamboos and evergreen shrubs work especially well with modern materials.

Plants for a contemporary garden

Buxus sempervirens (common box) clipped into geometric shapes

Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ (feather reed grass)

Carex buchananii (leatherleaf sedge)

Equisetum ramosissimum var. japonicum

Euphorbia mellifera (honey spurge)

Fatsia japonica (Japanese aralia)

Festuca glauca (blue fescue)

Miscanthus sinensis

Phyllostachys nigra (black bamboo)

Pittosporum tobira (Japanese mock orange)

The use of modern materials and carefully positioned sculpture all help to create a clean, crisp contemporary feel to this garden.