The Brief

The brief was for ‘loose and natural planting with a simple colour palette’ for the recently completed new driveway and modernised 1930s house.

To achieve the naturalistic feel I used grasses of different heights mixed with perennials such as verbena to create movement as the wind moves through. Colours used are green, white, mauve and orange. Plants choices are kept to a minimum and repeated in the beds to create rhythm. Evergreen shrubs of varying height add year-round structure as do the deep purple nearly black branches of cornus ‘Kesselringii’, chosen to complement the charcoal grey window frames.

There are flowering plants for pollinators and shrubs to provide screening to the roadside as well as low level planting on the boundary between the neighbours and driveway to allow for easy access to get in and out of cars.

Key plants used

Shrubs: Pittosporum ‘Golf Ball’ and ‘Elisabeth’ / Cornus ‘Kesselringii’
Perennials: Verbena bonariensis / Geum ‘Totally tangerine’ / Lavandula angustifolia / Geranium ‘Rozanne’ / Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Hameln’ / Carex oshimensis ‘Evergold’ / Luzula nivea / Anemone  x Hybrida / Helleborus niger