Something about this time of year makes me yearn to cut in a new flowerbed and fill it with ambitious little 9cm pots and big dreams. The feeling is heightened this year by my own garden’s state of flux: planted in 2023, it is now in its awkward second-year phase – neither abundant nor beginning. But in any garden, autumn is an excellent time to plot out your borders and plant new hardy perennials, such as grasses, geraniums and Japanese anemones, and helpful fillers such as heucheras.
If you’ve ever returned from the garden centre on the first warm day of spring with armfuls of large pots, only to watch those plants flounder over the seasons to come (questioning your gardening skills while they’re at it), taking action now could be a solution.
Smaller plants tend to settle in best in the right circumstances – namely, when given the room, rain and time to grow. Hardy plants will survive a frost, and by planting them in the next few weeks you’ll be giving them a six-month stretch to bed in before the longer spring days arrive. If you’re really organised, you can get your bulbs in at the same time.
Planning a border is an art form. Applying a broader lens to your beds and pots, rather than picking up odd plants here and there when the impulse strikes, will pay dividends when you’re admiring a cohesive planting display next summer.
Some basic rules: stick to a colour palette, and if you’re unsure of what shades to choose for your garden, look at what you love that’s in your space already. I know to avoid blues, purples and reds, because my garden is a pink, white and yellow zone only. Always buy fewer varieties of plants but in greater and, crucially, odd numbers: three, five or seven (or even more if you’ve the space) of any one plant.
In tight spaces, one statement plant can go a long way, but two will always look a bit odd. Now’s a good time to divide any healthy plants that you love, by unearthing them and splitting the plant – rootball and all – into smaller chunks, then redistributing them across the bed.
Aim for a mix of plants that will offer a spectrum of height, structure, texture, foliage and flowering season. No garden will look its best all year round, but it’s smart to choose plants that offer more than their flowers. I am a huge fennel fan, for instance: the feathery foliage offers shape in early summer, the flowers are fantastic later on, and then the seedheads and skeletons splinter winter light.
Arrange the plants, still in their pots, on the ground before you plant, and look at them from different angles. Plant them in triangles or zigzags, rather than straight lines, for a naturalistic effect. Water well, and await the spring.
