Floriferous Ideas: Planning my dream garden.
If there is one thing that truly brings me joy, it’s gardening.
When I left London at the end of 2016, we moved to a small new-build house in the Midlands. Its tiny, postage-stamp garden became my empty canvas, and we filled it with fruit trees, roses, lavender, and irises. From that moment, I was hooked. In 2019, we were fortunate enough to secure an allotment, and growing cut flowers, fruit, and vegetables quickly became my passion, a way to slow down and reconnect with the world in a way that nothing else quite could.
In 2021, we took on a new adventure: a house with a much larger but neglected garden. It was one of the reasons we fell in love with the place, dreaming of the transformation it could undergo. But the reality has been challenging. The garden we inherited was barren and sparse. The heavy, waterlogged clay soil turns the garden into a bog with every rainfall, retaining the water and making it difficult for anything to thrive…(despite my best efforts!)
Determined to bring our vision to life, we’ve started installing a French drain to improve the soil condition and we have begun to build raised beds to give our plants the rich, well-draining soil they need. Though I haven’t been able to garden recently due to my recovery from surgery, my mind has been busy with plans. I have been sketching designs, reading and creating vision boards for the garden, imagining the seasons of bloom to come. In the meantime, my partner and wonderful family have kindly taken on the physical work gradually when they have free time, turning dreams into something tangible.
We are not only installing a french drain but also crafting a timber retaining wall to raise the sloped section of our garden, creating two tiered levels. At the top, sits our cherry tree and Japanese cherry blossom that we planted a few years ago when we moved in. Alongside the trees I envisage a space that feels wild and abundant, brimming with plants that invite pollinators and wildlife to the garden.
To define different areas within the garden, we are carving out deep borders, planting small fruit trees, and cultivating a small wildflower meadow. One side will remain a true wildflower haven containing wildflowers such as borage, clary, cornflower, oxeye daisies, marjoram and scabious. The other side will (I hope) take on a more structured feel, evolving into a herbaceous border with hydrangeas adding bursts of colour and lush cover. A winding gravel or stone path will weave between these spaces, leading through a tapestry of textures and scents, with bird feeders and little house (belonging to my partners late grandparents) tucked in along the way to encourage life to flourish.
The trees and shrubs hold a special place in my heart, and have been collected for a few years so, in the space I fondly call my "orchard" (despite it containing just three fruit trees…definitely not worthy of orchard status!) we are adding a mix of fruiting and ornamental varieties for year-round interest. Climbing roses and rhododendrons will nestle behind them, forming a natural screen to lend us a little more privacy from the world beyond our garden fence.
Below the retaining wall, we plan to introduce a smaller raised bed, where I plan to place two arched trellises for my clematis and jasmine. In front of these, I hope to create a dazzling summer display of rudbeckias, echinaceas, and dahlias.
For me, nothing quite rivals the beauty of a full, flourishing herbaceous border. I adore flower beds overflowing with perennials such as lavender, salvia, anemones, lupins, and geranium interwoven with bursts of spring bulbs like narcissus, tulips, alliums and iris. I’m also eager to re home my beloved nepeta and roses from our previous garden, giving them richer soil in which to thrive. There is something magical about the contrast of the ‘Ancient Mariner’ rose’s soft pink blooms against the vivid purple haze of nepeta. To add height, I am incorporating verbena bonariensis and astrantias while late-season colour will come from resilient, golden rudbeckias.
I grow an abundance of flowers from seed, such as delicate sweet peas and cosmos to ammi, honesty, and rambling Erigeron. Whenever possible, I plant bare-root perennials in winter and early spring and I grow dahlia tubers, ranunculus and anemones inside before planting them out in the garden or allotment after the last frost. In height of summer, there’s nothing more satisfying than gathering homegrown blooms, filling jars and vases with little posies from the garden.
At the garden’s lowest point lies a curved, sloping bed, currently home to two shrub roses. This area has been quite boggy and many plants have not survived or struggled to thrive. We hope that building a raised bed here will help provide our plants with healthy free draining soil. I hope to introduce more herbaceous plants here in the future too such as salvias, anemones, and geraniums. I would like to plant sweet peas at the front of the bed, this should help enclose the central lawn area, which is, for now, a mossy expanse…One day, we dream of adding a patio here, perhaps shaded by a pergola, a place to sit and soak in the beauty of it all…but we have definitely given ourselves plenty to do for now.
Gardening, for me, has always been more than just a pastime. It’s a quiet sanctuary, a place of patience and renewal, and no matter the setbacks, I know it will always be waiting for me.
I am by no means an expert. I have no formal gardening training, no qualifications, just a love for the process. I experiment, I learn, and I embrace both the successes and the inevitable disasters! It seems easier to fail in the garden, harder in other areas of life. Some things thrive, others falter, but that’s the beauty of it all.
Gardening, for me, is less about perfection and more about discovery—the joy of trying, the patience in waiting, and the quiet satisfaction of watching things grow and flourish.
I would love to know about your garden plans, what are your favourite flowers to grow?
The happiest place I've found so far on Substack! LOVE your pics and gardens..so inspiring as I am starting to plan this year's garden beds.
I have an Ancient Mariner too. It was the one that kept catching my eye around David Austin’s. My dad used to recite that poem to me on walks… 💖🌹