H&G garden editor Clare Foster shares her advice for beautifying the outdoors of your private home withflora

Britt Willoughby Dyer
flora FOR WINDOW containers

‘For the ultimate in low-maintenance planting, intersperse small balls of box with a seasonal show of bulbs and summer time bedding: tulips in spring, geraniums in summer and wintry weather pansies in autumn – ornearly any annuals that take your fancy.’

Pleached container hedge at the left of the picture seperates this house from its neighbour.
flowers FOR front GARDENS

‘Hummocks of clipped lavender work well in a southfacing the front lawn. For small spaces, repeating shapes can be best. try contrasting the lavender balls with taller flora such as alliums or verbascum inbetween. For shady front gardens, you cannot move wrong with clipped field (Buxus sempervirens) or bay tree requirements with hart’s tongue ferns to create exclusive shapes.’

if you need privacy, it is higher to opt for a mature hedge – a 1.5-metre yew hedge expenses £200–three hundred a metre and is simple to hold properly clipped. Lollipop-pruned hornbeam or box additionallyprovide privacy without searching dominant. attempt pleaching the bushes on a horizontal aircraft,allowing them to develop together to form a dwelling wall.

A wisteria has been skilled over the the front door of this house the use of2b4ddebc610f0ebc488d9c02eb20a2e5 vine-eyes outfitted in to the brickwork.
deciding on mountain climbing flowers

‘there are many flora to teach up the front of your house, however beware of these like Clematis montana and Virginia creeper as a way to quickly rampage up and over the whole lot,’ says lawn editor Clare Foster. ‘climbing roses and wisteria are the conventional countryhouse picks. For urban spaces, Trachelospermum jasminoides is one of the simplest climbers, satisfied in solar or semi-coloration. Climbers are pleasant trained the usage of a cord and vineeye device. Screw the vine-eyes into the masonry to create a gadget of taut wires, both vertical or horizontal, and about 45cm aside. For smaller climbers consisting of clematis, screw a wood trellis to the wall. strive inexperienced Wall systems orchrome steel solutions for equipped-made kits.’