What makes a Good Boundary Plant? Front Garden Planting Ideas

The question “What makes a Good Boundary Plant?” may seem like a simple one, and in many ways it is. Certain plants do meet the needs of a wide range of boundary requirements. However, just as your house style and personal preference are different to residents three roads away, so too might be your definition of good boundary plants.

Firstly, what do I mean by a boundary plant? It is quite literally, a plant which grows along your boundary line. It may or may not abut a fence or wall, and may be in your front, side or rear garden. As you can see, that gives us a range of situations even before we’ve considered soil or style. So, for the purposes of this article, I want to consider plants in your front garden, without a solid wall or fence. That is, the plants themselves will be delineating your boundary, or frontage.

We’ll look at design elements to help with choosing styles. I’ve suggested planting ideas, plants for specific situations and DIY tips. There are links to other blogs and pictures at the end. Read on…

Boundary Plants and Front Gardens

For teeny, tiny front gardens the boundary plants and plants in your window box may be one and the same! However, if you have room for a narrow border under the window, perhaps as wide as your doorstep, you could potentially add more plants in there. But tiny front gardens and their planting are topics for another blog.

Travelling from urban locations to suburban, terraced properties to detached show that there’s much variation in the size of the British front garden. But there are certain questions to answer which are relevant to all. These include: –

Your budget
Is there an existing scheme / planting design or are you starting afresh?
Maintenance requirements
Soil type
Sun or shade?
Pollution from traffic
Coastal areas / salty air
Do you need screening from passers-by?
Or are the plants ‘just’ marking your boundary?
Privacy for you vs security, ie not allowing potential burglars to be hidden
Who is going to design the boundary planting scheme?
Are you able to do all the physical work involved yourself?

Planting Styles for Boundaries

Front gardens are your public face, as is the front façade of your house. A symmetrical façade suggests symmetry for the front border planting, but it may not be that simple if the gate or driveway break up the regularity. In which case a formal planting scheme rather than a symmetrical one may look more appealing.

Formal –

Clipped hedges, Yew, beech
Topiary, depending on shape
Trained forms, lollipop (Olive trees, Bay trees); espalier fruit trees, pleached trees
Compact forms of plants that retain their shape with minimal pruning
Even numbers of plants and plant groupings used
Regular planting
Symmetrical planting
Specimen plants
Restricted colour scheme, usually green plus a pale colour, but a splash of bright orange can look stunning and individual

If you love soft, spilling over cottage garden style plants, you may feel they’d look good in the front garden. And so they might, but be aware that passers-by probably don’t want a face full of wet Helianthus or to slip on creeping thyme! Go with compact plants against the pavement and let the floppers grow on the house side of the border.

Informal –

Wildlife friendly, whether for bees, butterflies, birds or a general mix
Cottage garden
Mixed herbaceous plants
Mixed shrubs, with ground cover
Odd numbers of plants and plant groupings used
Edible hedges
Topiary, depending on shape
Usually allows for a wider range of colours within the scheme; but restricting to 2 or 3 will make it easier for you to design your own
Specimen deciduous tree /s underplanted with spring bulbs and ground cover

Planting Styles for Boundaries – and still more choice

Then there are other styles which may appeal to you or be appropriate for the situation. The following is a fairly comprehensive, but not exhaustive list. For example: –

Mediterranean – which encompasses a wide selection of plants both colourful or formal
Drought tolerant – heading towards more arid conditions if lots of succulents used
Rock or alpine garden – worth considering if you dig up a lot of stones (I’m kidding!) Done well, this could be stunning and a talking point for the neighbourhood
Potager – ornamental kitchen garden in a border – you need good neighbours or plants that are more unusual if it does adjoin the pavement. And not on a main road
Coastal – a la Derek Jarman, or reflecting native species found on nearby cliffs
Native species – what grows in the woods near you?
Heritage / endangered / at risk species – keep the gene pool in existence
Exotic – perennial and annual
Annual plants or annual bedding scheme – you could have a different planting design every year!
Wildflower meadow – scatter seeds of field poppies, etc or use plug plants
Carpet bedding – foliage based; may be annual or perennial
Ornamental grasses – tall ones will provide a privacy screen but still be see through enough not to hide potential burglars

What makes a Good Boundary Plant?

Yes, we’re back to our original question, because you need to know what end result you want to achieve.

There may be limitations to your garden that need to be considered. For example, some Conservation areas or estates have rules on style or plants. Perhaps you won’t be in the house long or have a tight budget. Only you know that, although Plews can help you work out priorities.

There are still plant suggestions and a DIY list to come…

A Boundary Plant for Different Situations

A few suggestions for smaller plants to get you started. These are either herbaceous perennials or small perennials and will suit a range of planting styles as a boundary plant. Some of them will suit different situations, for example, Lamium will grow just about anywhere.

Alkaline soils
Dianthus, aka cottage garden pink
Erysimum, perennial wallflower
Helianthemum, rock rose

dianthus

Acid soils
Erica, heather
Lithodora diffusa
Trillium

erica

Sun
Artemisia nana
Lampranthus, ice plant
Teucrium chamaedrys, Wall Germander

lampranthus

Shade
Hellebore
Hosta
Lamium maculatum, dead nettle

lamium

Coastal
Armeria maritima, sea thrift
Lampranthus, ice plant
Sedum, stonecrop

armeria

Planting a Boundary Scheme – DIY

If a simple border of plants to edge your boundary is all that’s needed, then the DIY list below should be useful. Get inspiration for boundary planting from Plews website portfolio and blog; from Plews and others on Instagram and Pinterest. Your neighbourhood gardens may offer ideas too.

As a brief outline of tasks, you’ll need to: –

Remove any existing plants, possibly locating them to a different part of the garden, donating to a plant sale or composting them
Weed
Dig over
Know the pH of your soil, and whether it needs improving. It probably will, unless you’ve added organic matter recently. Do not skimp on preparing the soil, a nutritious soil will feed your new plants
Measure the area so you can work out how much new soil / soil improver; and how many plants and of what size you’ll need
Research suitable plants for the location and the style
Order your soil improver and dig it in
Create a planting plan
Source and purchase your plants
Depending on the time of year, the availability of plants / particular sizes and cultivars may vary. Herbaceous perennials may be a ‘pot full of soil’ and not much else!
Remember ‘extras’ such as mycorrhizal fungi to help shrubs establish a strong root system
Water all plants thoroughly before starting. Bare rooted plants may need a couple of hours in a bucket of water. (see bare root plants blog)
Set out plants, have a cup of tea / coffee whilst looking at the plants form all angles. Adjust where necessary
Then you can plant them; remember to tease out roots carefully so as not to damage them
Water everything when you’ve finished
Keep up a watering routine, the details will depend on the plants, the location and the weather

Do you need more?

A good boundary plant is the one that suits the situation and your requirements. Hopefully, I’ve given you some ideas and tips to help you find the right boundary plants for your front garden.

But would you like help in choosing the right plants for your garden boundary, with or without finding the best fences or walls? Then drop Plews an email. We are able to design for you wherever you live in the UK and Ireland; and even abroad. We can come to your garden or organise our ‘design at a distance’ if that better suits your needs.

Check out the blogs below for more inspiration.