Albatross

A front garden is the first thing visitors see, and the planting here needed to suit the house: calm and elegant, but full of life through the seasons.

Working alongside Chris Jesson, I drew up the planting plans and continue to look after the garden’s aftercare.

[Add the real brief: what the owners wanted and what was there before.]

A restrained palette of purple, blue and white runs through the raised beds, repeating along their length so the garden reads as one composition from the gate to the front door.

Salvia and catmint give long drifts of colour, joined by hardy geraniums, society garlic and alliums, with the airy stems of Verbena bonariensis floating above. Clipped box balls and standard trees add structure against the white walls and keep the garden looking composed through winter.

Beyond, the mood shifts to a sunny gravel garden. Palms, an evergreen magnolia and a tree fern give height and shade, while boulders, grasses, sea holly and self-seeding daisies scatter through the gravel, with tiered white raised beds of soft grasses stepping up behind.

By early June the beds are full and layered, spilling over the white walls of the raised beds and softening the clean lines of the house.

[Add how the owners use and feel about the garden now.]