National Garden Day 2020 - Ideas for Your Dream Garden Design

National Garden Day 2020 takes place on May 10th, a week after National Gardening Week. Plews blog at the beginning of that week was about gardening tips and tasks. This week, rather than giving you a How to list and getting you out there busy doing, I thought I’d take a different approach.

We’re looking at ideas for your dream garden; an inspirational space of suggestions, ideas and – importantly – photos. So that it doesn’t matter whether you have 5 acres, a suburban plot, an urban courtyard, a balcony or a window box. We can all dream of the garden we’d like, or how our current garden should look, but sometimes our thoughts are unfocused. I’d like to help you focus just a little, so when you have the time, the money, the garden, you already have some ideas of where to start and what to aim for.

Firstly lets consider garden types and styles. And then do a bit of mix and matching to find inspirational ideas for your dream garden. My use of the phrases types and styles is fairly loose, as I’ d like you to feel free to dream and experiment. So put the kettle on and get ready to let your imagination roam…

Garden Types

These can be subdivided into two main types: –

Formal gardens
Informal gardens

Of course, its not that simple, but far more interesting! As within those we have: –

Historic gardens
Contemporary gardens
Walled gardens
Ornamental gardens
Productive gardens

parterre garden, Image by pixabay.com/users/Tama66-1032521

looking out of windows to garden, Photo by Joshua Ness on Unsplash;

tudor gateway, walled garden, fulham palace

pergola, roses, pelargoniums, gate Photo by Mitchell Gaiser on Unsplash;

raised vegetable beds, beetroot, family garden, Photo by Jonathan Hanna on Unsplash

And the location is often classed as a type of garden: –

Rural
Suburban
Urban
Courtyard and Patio
Balcony
Roof garden

We’ll be looking at more visuals to give us a flavour of styles, types and themes. But first another list to give us some styles, all of which could fit into one or more of the types of garden.

white-flowers-front garden, Photo by Anna Guerrero from Pexels

nicotiana in courtyard ightham mote, marie shallcross

garden staircase Brockwell Hall, Brockwell Park, grade 2 listed building, built by D R Roper, South London

Roof garden, architectural planting, urban jungle

Garden Styles

The styles give us a dash more clarity as to the feel of the garden. It is possible to have more than one style in even quite small gardens. However, it works best if there is a unifying theme or the garden can feel uncomfortable to be in – and we wouldn’t want that on National Garden Day 2020, now would we!

Wildlife garden
Woodland
Woodland Edge and Hedgerow
Maritime / Seaside garden
Water garden – freshwater pools, streams
Bog garden
Wild flower meadow
Rock garden, Alpine garden
Raised bed or Container garden
Permaculture garden
Mediterranean garden
English garden (think big)
Cottage garden
Herb garden
Stumpery / Fernery
Ornamental kitchen garden

garden newts in palm of hand, Plews, garden wildlife, amphibians

cottage in the woods, climbing roses, woodland garden, Photo by Nikolaj Martini Petersen on Unsplash

rope swing, RHS Back to Nature Garden, chelsea flower show 2019

kniphofia, red hot poker, cordyline cabbage palm behind, Eastbourne promenade, seaside garden, blue sea

butterflies at dawn, flower & vegetable boxes, rhs hampton court flower show 2017

bulrushes, sedge, pond border, pond garden, wildlife friendly planting, wildlife garden

field poppies, papaver rhoes, wild flowers, annual flowers, Photo by Alex Block on Unsplash

small green roof, bin store, front garden design, york stone, alpines

medieval vegetable garden, raised beds, leeks

family garden, lifestyle gardens. hampton court 2018

terracotta pot, belvedere, museum correale, sorrento, vesuvius

flower borders, box hedging, privy garden, hampton court

hollyhocks, thatched cottage, cottage garden Image by Kerstin Riemer from Pixabay

herb garden, bird bath, brick path, english lavender, ornamental edible garden, herb garden, white metal bench, santolina, salvia

tree stump, ferns, daffodils, stumpery, sizergh castle garden

espalier fig trees, walled kitchen garden, wimpole hall, ornamental edible garden

Garden Themes for National Garden Day 2020

Arguably some of these may be a method of gardening, or a style of garden, but I felt they fitted in here.

Rose garden – or other single plant as a focus
Cut flower garden
Pollinator friendly planting
Child friendly
Pet friendly
Organic garden
Vegan garden
Plant lover’s garden
Seasonal garden – for example if it’s only used for part of the year, or for borders to look good at certain times
Sculpture garden
Topiary

front garden, lawn, roses, becontree estate, london, bbc, decline of the front garden

anneka rice colourful cutting garden , RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2017, bbc radio 2 feelgood gardens

Fuchsia 'Star Wars', with bee, pollinators, flowering shrub

outdoor blackboard , child friendly garden

bunnies and daisies, rabbits, pet friendly gardens

miscanthus, parterre garden, fulham palace

cowberry flowers, Vaccinium vitis idaea, foxberry, bearberry, partridge berry, https:/commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cowberry_flowers_(2580181940).jpg cowberry flowers

auricula theatre with cherry pie, lantana, hampton court palace gardens

parterre, walled garden, Fulham Palace, london, winter

poppy seed sculptures, millenium seed bank, wakehurst place, kew

But enough of lists! Helpful though they are for gaining some clarity for your dream garden, I’d like to put a few elements together as further inspiration.

National Garden Day 2020 – Ideas for Your Dream Garden

Now, we’re not actually designing your real garden here, so some of elements we’d normally consider – like where to put the washing line – we can ignore. In your dream garden the focus is more on how you see yourself in and enjoying your garden. In other words is it filled with flower borders where you waft along snipping the occasional flower for the house? Or are you out there in steel toe capped boots and spade in hand ready to dig a trench for potatoes? Perhaps it’s a combination of both?

Lets sort out a few basics, using photos to help us of course. The first thing is to decide in your head, is the size of garden; not all of us desire acres of land. What sort of climate is it? Are we contemplating a British / English garden or something Mediterranean or tropical, perhaps based on a garden in a holiday villa?

bodnant, north wales, orangery Image by brittlueb from Pixabay;

victorian-walled-garden-1757316_1280, carpet bedding, klemore abbey, galway, ireland

Formality or Informality?

Then consider how formal this garden is. Do you really mean formal, or just neat? Hmm. I must admit to liking at the very least, a element of formality to give structure to a garden. This might be a rectilinear framework with lush planting inside. Or borders edged with a single plant. Not necessarily box hedging, but, for example, a low growing hedge of lavender, strawberries or heuchera.

A knot garden or parterre, with or without topiary, can fulfil that need for simplicity and uniformity. If you want to make your dream garden pollinator friendly too, then plant small blossom laden trees as centre pieces in two of the four squares. In the other two, have obelisks supporting roses or clematis.

overlooking knot garden from great chamber, Trerice, cornwall, cornish gardens, lavender silver mist, marjoram herrenhausen, yew, knot gardens

parterre garden, box hedging, sundial, Washington Old Hall, Marie Shallcross

knot garden, hampton court palace garden, historic gardens, box hedging, bay tree

If a walled kitchen garden figures highly in your dreams, then formality in the guise of regularity of beds for easy crop rotation may be a must. And there is something satisfying about a rectilinear pattern; its simplicity is restful to the eye.

empty vegetable beds, winter, chartwell kitchen garden

And at the other end of the spectrum we have the lush over spilling of plants onto garden paths. The English cottage garden is one of those idealised forms of gardening. We envisage a decorative, productive space filled with the hum of bees and the popping of pea pods. On National Garden Day 2020, we’re allowed to keep this vision. We can have glorious lupins, marigolds and hostas without a snail eaten leaf in sight.

wooden gate, cottage garden, arbour, Image by congerdesign on pixabay

Or perhaps your dream is of those long, deep mixed herbaceous borders that line brick paths and grass walkways. Whether you prefer a vibrant colourful tapestry or muted shades long borders often figure in our dream gardens. With the right mix of plants they can offer a long season of interest too.

herbaceous borders, walled garden, fulham palace

english garden, herbaceous borders, topiary

You might hanker after a greenhouse; I have one, and I’d like a larger one. But I dream of also having an alpine house and a small tropical house. Actually, now we’re talking about it, I need another greenhouse too, for overwintering all those tender perennial plants that I love, Orange trees, Lemon trees, Salvias, Pelargoniums, Plectranthus, Heliotrope…

bird of paradise plant, strelitzia regina, sub tropical glasshouse, hall place, house plant

tufa house, alpine house, glasshouse, victorian pit house, holehird gardens, lakeland horticultural society

lemon tree in glasshouse, citrus tree, tender perennial

What other elements might we dream of on National Garden Day 2020? Statues, ponds, pools and swimming pools, balconies dripping with scented climbers, fan trained peaches growing on old brick walls, a shady spot to dine alfresco with friends. And of course somewhere to sit and dream. Perhaps if there are particular plants you love your dream garden includes space to have collections of these, even if you don’t aspire to an official National Plant Collection.

alice in wonderland, hamilton gardens, new zealand, statues

italian renaissance garden, hamilton gardens, new zealand

And finally for National Garden Day 2020

Dream gardens may be the only ones you can manage to visit. But you could make a floral crown to wear whilst you’re dreaming and planning. A floral crown? I hear you ask. Yes, its part of the fun for National Garden Day 2020 to weave a garland of garden flowers to celebrate the season and our gardens. But its not obligatory.

Now hopefully I’ve provided you with some inspiration and focus for your dream garden. And if you’d like some help with putting your ideas together into a design that is both beautiful and practical do get in touch. We can offer a virtual Initial Design meeting “now” and a face-to-face one when we’re allowed. Plews also offers a “Design at a Distance” service where that is appropriate.

To help with your inspiration, why not –