Planning and Planting a Border - What Do You Do?

I'm interested to know what you do when you're planning and planting a new border or rethinking an existing one. Do you use multiples of the same plant? Do you plant them in groups, drifts or other shapes or do you spread them out across the border at specific points?

How do you decide what you are going to do? Are you a "buy it and find a space" kind of gardener or do you research and make meticulous lists of your desired plants and make drawings of your border and a planting plan? Do you consider the height and spread of plants, their growth habit and season of interest or do you plant them to fill the space initially and then have a rethink later on when they can be moved, pruned or divided?

I'm not keen on the Smarties or All Sorts kind of planting and I like to have multiples of plants, normally in odd numbers like 3, 5 and 7 which we have been led to believe is tasteful and good practice! I also work to a colour palette of a lot of different shades of green and then a limited number of colours, mainly orange, red, purple, blue, white and yellow. No pastels allowed! I also like to include lots of variegated plants to bring light into the shady parts of my garden.

I'd welcome your thoughts about planning and planting a border and any photos of your completed masterpieces or work in progress!

 

I don't believe there is such a thing as good taste in gardening. Your garden is yours and you should grow what you like, how you like.
I am fortunate in having a large space with lots of different conditions, so each area is planted very differently.
In my main "long" border, I go for repeat planting at intervals along the border, because I think that helps the eye follow along the border so you don't miss things.

 

I must admit I'm something of a "buy it then find a space" gardener, and I tend to only buy one of a thing. If it does well I will later split it or take cuttings. Most of the things in my garden that there are lots of are the self-seeders, of which there are many.

Colour-wise I have a loose colour scheme in each area of my garden.

The back has blues, blue-ish purples, whites, yellows and some golden/yellow/variegated foliage, although this year there's a really nice deep red aquilegia and I can't bring myself to pull it out. I'll try moving it to the front when it's finished flowering. There's also a peachy-orangey rose which I keep saying I'm going to move but it hasn't happened yet.

In the front I have crimson-reds, reddish-purples, medium to deep pinks/magentas and a bit of orange, and quite a lot of purple foliage, although at this time of the year there are inevitably some forget-me-nots, and the cream flowers on the Anthriscus "Ravenswing".

The corner section has pastel colours and whites, silver foliage, and a few hits of dark foliage and purple flowers to stop it being too peely-wally. Once again the plants don't always go along with my ideas and things like crimson Knautia will appear there in the summer.

 

My reference to taste was meant ironically @Punkdoc. I agree your garden is what you like and what you want. I like the use of repetition in a long border too, for the same reason.

 

I can see that you are a very thoughtful gardener @JennyJB. I'd forgotten about self seeders, a very good point to let nature do its own thing!

 

More like quite a lazy gardener! I let the self-seeders do their thing and they fill a lot of space, particularly this time of year before most of the perennials really get into their stride.

 

I love a good self seeder, they often put themselves in places I wouldn't think of, which are often really good.
One of the nice things about growing too many of something from seed, is I can experiment with putting things in unusual places, sometimes finding they do much better than I imagined.

 

It's also about the amount of time for maintaining a garden, and the climate/conditions.
I dislike certain colours intensely - pale pink, forget me not blue and that peachy/salmon colour -especially in a bi-coloured flower, so I don't have any of those. The only exceptions are things like Saxifraga urbium as it's very useful groundcover, and can look white depending on what it's with, and I tolerate the odd paler blue if it works for a specific reason. I don't generally like blue though, but love purple.
When you work full time, a garden has to be lower maintenance, especially if you have other interests, or people who are dependent on you. Mine was very low maintenace when I was working, and is a bit higher maintenance now.
I like repeat planting too, and also growing from seed. I occasionally experiment with things that may not be ideal for my conditions, and do the same as @Punkdoc re moving them around, but I don't get too worked up about it if they don't make it. They're just plants

 

I like planting on mass and repetition but don't do much planning. I only have one border that isn't grown in and it's along our boundary in full sun. This bed has a few permanent plants but most are annuals, so it can change massively from year to year bit always directed towards wildlife.
I don't much worry about colour clashing, shape or form, I just grow what appeals. One year we had several hundred foxgloves or various shades followed by tithonia, sunflowers, nicotiana and a few things but this year we have a couple of dozen foxgloves, some white and blue borage, sweet peas, californian poppies and calendula to be followed by tithonia, sunflowers and dahlias.


I'm one of those people that learns through experimentation and it keeps my interest so I need space to try new combinations and techniques.

 

I am a buy a plant and find it a space gardener. Whenever I have tried to follow the rules and plant in groups of 3, one always dies or at least only grows to half the size of the other two. With repeat planting I find that the repeated plants don't all flower at the same time. It's probably my fault, not the plants.
As for colours, my back garden has a lot of blue, yellow and white, but also splashes of pink, red and purple. I can't bear orange and I prefer lemony yellows.
The front garden, which tends to be ignored as we always come into the house from the back, is mainly full of things that haven't worked in the back garden.
I have plenty of books on garden planning and design and I enjoy reading them, but not putting the suggestions into practice.

 

That sounds like a great border @Thevictorian! Do you sow your annuals directly or start them off in trays or pots? I would like to experiment with annuals but have limited sunny space here so most of my plants are shade tolerant. The dry sandy soil doesn't help either!

 

I know exactly what you mean @katecat58! I don't think it's your fault, it's more likely to be location, weather or a pest! I often plant more than the groups of 3, 5 etc to have spares when others fail, which has come in handy recently after a snail invasion!

 

The only plants that self seed and survive the molluscs are Nigella and toadflax around here so I grow everything as plugs. Our soil is also dry and sandy but because I don't have much in the way of perminant planting, it's easy to amend the soil with thick mulches.

 

Like katecat58 my 'planning' doesn't usually work too well. Firstly, I can research suitable plants as much as I like, but availability dictates the final result. Since Brexit, I'm stuck with what's available here, which isn't very impressive, especially regarding seeds and perennials. There's one mail order nursery with a good list but they send out small plants at exorbitant prices.
Then there's the 'all or nothing' syndrome....one or more of the three or five will die and the survivors become complete thugs Same with grouping for height, shape and colour to create interesting combinations.
I've tried to stick to the principle of an evergreen/grey/gold 'backbone' for winter interest but evergreens suffer horribly in this climate of extremes...hot/cold and dry/wet with frequent howling gales from all directions!
Discouraged? Me? Too right

 

It does sound like you're having fun though @noisette47 !