A new planting season, and a chance to think over our approach to planning garden beds and borders. Most of us strive for a harmonious feeling in our gardens, something which  is difficult to achieve without careful thought and knowledge of the plants we choose and how we group them. The preference now is to grow mixtures of plants with far fewer beds planted with just one species.

Roses traditionally were often planted this way. While they are beautiful when flowering, but you would have to be a real enthusiast to find them an asset to the garden when they just look like a few thorny sticks! Why not plan to have some other plant at its best then, as companions to the roses. An underplanting of spring flowering bulbs, perhaps, and later a hardy geranium whose leaves and flowers will soften the lower stems of the roses while they bloom above. I have seen Lady’s Mantle (Alchemilla mollis) used in this way to great effect, but do be wary of its self seeding tendencies. A helpful side effect of this type of planting is a reduction in the need to weed around the roses, which any gardener will know to their cost, can often be a painful chore.

This approach to your borders can be applied throughout the garden. When choosing a plant, don’t just pay attention to the conditions it likes and its final height and spread. Notice when it flowers and what other plants you have which will then have finished or not yet started looking their best and leaving a gap in interest to be filled. A garden often has a season in which it looks best; herbaceous borders reach full glory in mid to late summer so a backdrop of a few early flowering shrubs gives spring interest. Add small evergreen shrubs or the bright stems of dogwoods and you have a splash of colour throughout the winter months too.

Containers and tubs can be given an extended shelf life in this way, too. A bit of forethought can ensure that you don’t have to redo them until the following year. Plant layers of bulbs under winter bedding or lovely cyclamen. Then in the spring, tulips could follow mini daffodils, with beautiful lilies to surprise later in the year- a succession of interest throughout the seasons, mirroring the garden as a whole.