Notes from a hillside garden: Pt. 3

Now for the fun stuff - planting!

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There is a moment when you complete the hard landscaping of a garden, where you need to stay resolute and hold your nerve. On the one hand you are relieved that all the destruction, copious soil excavation and subsequent rebuilding is over. But, on the other hand you are confronted with hard landscaping in the truest sense of the phrase. It can seem a very cold, austere place, which can slowly chip away at your confidence. Self doubt can creep in as you begin to wonder whether you’ve just paved over paradise.

The Hollywood style staircase completed the hard landscaping in our garden. It was one of those wintry wet days where it felt like the sun decided not to bother rising. Perpetual nighttime. I call them Bladerunner days after the famous cult movie set in a climate-collapsed world. I remember standing in my wellies on what would become the first lawn, my eyes surveying the curves of wooden raised beds surrounding me. “Oh J.P what have you done? You’ve created an amphitheatre of gloom. Everything is brown!”

I spent the next three days at my desk pouring over my initial drawings and planting ideas. Had I got it that wrong? Am I, as I have very often suspected, a complete fraud, an imposter that doesn’t even deserve his bus fare home? I had to get these thoughts out of my head and the best way to do that was to go shopping. Shopping always works.

I decided to spend the day at a tree nursery. I would pick out the specimens that would elevate the space and give it the warmth and bonhomie it so needed. I nearly always start my planting schemes with trees, or shrubs. They ground a space and give it structure, height and interest. They can blur boundaries, create privacy and seclusion, as well as providing shade. They are the showstoppers, the lead roles in my play.

Read on to find out which trees I chose, a list of all the plants in the borders and some handy tips for choosing and planting up your own flower beds.