Dream planting garden

Long-flowering perennials mixed with light and airy ornamental grasses.

Our briefThis front garden started as a semi-circle of grass, lined by shrubs - "before" picture below. Plenty of hedges and street trees were already present - a perfect backdrop for new planting. The owners asked for lots of colour, plus nectar and pollen for local insects. It was important to them to keep the sun streaming into their front room, enjoy the garden from indoors, and retain a line of sight to the street.

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The garden slopes downwards to the street, so we incorporated slightly taller flowering plants, mixed with lighter "see-through" grasses, and were still able to meet the owners' requests.
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Winter structure and seasonal colour

Two existing Arbutus unedo ("strawberry trees", seen in these photos), frame the newly-added plants. We kept some of the shrubs because, together with the new grasses, they provide foliage and structure in winter, when flowering perennials are dormant. We added seasonal colour and a variety of forms and shapes. The switch from a mown lawn to long drifts of flowering plants makes all the difference for local insects.

No need to water after the first two years
​We went for "drought-tolerant" planting - plants which need watering for the first couple of summers but send out deep roots, ultimately helping them to cope with drier summers without the need for irrigation.

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Further perennials and bulbs are being added this year - photos to follow in summer 2026.​​​