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Architectural Plants

As the sun starts to set for the summer, so do the wonderfully bright blooms of the garden – which means your outside space might end up looking a bit drab this winter. But fear not, help is on hand… You see with some clever architectural planting you can create an all year round display that will look fantastic and make your neighbours green with envy.

So what is architectural planting?

Basically it’s using evergreen plants that are spiky, have big leaves, or are slightly tropical to create a garden that has bold shapes and plenty of contrasting heights in it.

How-to use architectural plants

The best thing about architectural plants is that it doesn’t matter what kind of garden you have – they come in all shapes and sizes. But here are a few pointers to get you started…

• Mediterranean gardens - Use olive and bay trees to give form to the garden, and then plant vibrant coloured flower and shrubs informally around them. The different heights and blooming periods will mean you never have an empty garden.
• Cottage gardens - Start by using bay or topiary trees and plant them along paths and driveways. This will not only add a sense of grandeur, it will also give you an idea of where to plant next. Using the trees height as a guide, plant up any surrounding beds with flowers like acanthus and echinops – until you have a garden packed full of different textures.
• Oriental gardens - Well-known for their use of bold plants these spaces are great for architectural planting. Try using cordylines, phormiums and acers to create a rich texture of greenery. And plant bamboo to make borders and hedges – very striking.

Top tip

Topiary trees are great for instant kerb appeal and giving a finishing touch to a patio area – especially when combined with statement planters like zinc pots.