An Expert Guide to Planting Design

In the stunning setting of his Somerset home garden in May, Dan shares how to create solid foundations for a successful planting using the concepts of plant compatibility and layering.

You’ll learn the importance of underpinning a planting plan with considered structural elements and repetition, and how to view foliage as an equally important element to flowers.

We join Dan during his latest exciting project at Hillside – creating a naturalistic pond. You’ll discover the incredible benefits of a pond, and be equipped to make informed decisions about whether a pond is right for your garden, the best place to site it, and the timescale of creation.

Dan incorporates ponds into his designs wherever possible, but if you’re starting out, it can be hard to know what type of pond to create, where to put it, and how big it should be. Dan goes into more depth on how to practically site and design your pond, including linings, contouring and water management.

Plants are an essential element of any pond. We join Dan as he plants up his pond, learning the nuances around choosing plants, and how to set up the right conditions for both the planting and a healthy pond ecology. Dan demonstrates how he creates a naturalistic pond that blends in with the landscape.

Dan discusses the best time to plant up a pond and how to prepare your plants, followed by a wealth of practical detail on how to plant up the banks. You’ll soon feel just as confident planting in boggy mud as you do planting in borders.

You’ll learn why the marginal shelf is a crucial part of any pond, and explore its enormous potential for planting. Dan shares some of his top plants for using in this key zone, and his thought process in positioning them.

We join Dan as he revisits a former project; a beautiful old farm on the Devon coast. Part 3 focusses on this property as a case study, with Dan exploring how he completely renovated this site to craft it into the landscape and open up a diversity of distinct garden areas.

Dan outlines the bold changes that opened up this site’s potential whilst making it futureproof. You’ll learn how to break a big project like this down into a series of key moves, so that it becomes a logical and manageable process in which each step feeds into the next.

An overview of the diverse range of garden areas Dan created at Little Dartmouth, outlining his different approaches to each.

In this lesson, Dan looks at the landscaping elements of the project to show how you can use meadows, carefully considered materials and sensitively designed boundaries to blend a garden into its surroundings and make a site feel it’s in context.

We discover how the stunning sea views governed the design of this part of the garden, and how the harsh conditions demanded unique planting considerations. You’ll learn how to design a garden around a view, and how to choose plants that are right for your conditions.

Dan shares how opening up potential and capitalising on valuable microclimates allowed him to create a rich and varied fruit and vegetable garden, which connects to other areas and is as beautiful and biodiverse as it is productive.

This sun-drenched and sheltered herb garden has become a very distinct ‘place to be’. Dan teaches how to combine aesthetics and practicality to create a small garden that has atmosphere and ornamental value, whilst being entirely edible.

We discover how Dan created a walled garden from just bare walls and an empty yard. He shares insights into designing the hard and soft landscaping for this empty space. You’ll learn about the order of design; the roles of trees, shrubs and climbers; and where to use maps and drawings to help you.

Dan discusses the specifics of the planting in the walled garden, and how to make the most of sheltered conditions and microclimates to allow a contrasting garden style. We discover how to use scent most effectively, and how to create vertical layering up a wall using only a tiny amount of ground space.

In this chapter, you’ll learn the details of putting together a plant palette, and how to translate this into a layered planting plan that provides year-round interest whilst being practical to maintain.

In stark contrast to Little Dartmouth, this London case study uncovers how to transform a small, secluded space in order to provide a calm backdrop to urban living and a sanctuary from the hustle and bustle outside.

Dan discusses choosing plants for shade and designing a planting that oozes calm and tranquillity, whilst providing year-round interest and making optimal use of a small space. You’ll learn to see shade not as a limitation, but as an opportunity.

Focussing on this shady back garden, Dan goes into detail on how he puts together a planting plan orientated around structure and careful layering, which gives year-round interest whilst avoiding congestion. He also shares a favourite planting combination for trickier areas of dry shade.

In stark contrast, this sun-drenched spot is Dan’s opportunity to share a totally different plant palette and colour field, creating a welcoming space that gives a sense of arrival and tells the owners’ story. You’ll learn how you can create a planting in a small, sunny space that provides year-round interest and a sensory experience.

You’ll review some key principles of putting together a naturalistic design, and Dan shares some more in-depth advice and ideas around tackling dry shade.

Dan takes you back to Hillside in late summer. You’ll take a closer look at how he applied naturalistic principles in different ways to create the different parts of his garden; distinct ‘places to be’ that each have their own particular mood and balance.

You’ll learn how Dan used structure, form, repetition and detail in his main perennial garden to create a cohesive swathe of naturalistic planting that blends with the landscape beyond.

Dan explores how to use the principles of succession to create a garden that sings all year round, the value of really knowing your plants, and how he made this one of the lowest-maintenance parts of the garden.

Hedges are a key structural element of any garden. Dan discusses the functionality of a hedge, his considerations when choosing what to use, and some practical aspects of siting a hedge.

Ornamental grasses are a valuable tool in a garden, providing a number of unique benefits when used effectively. You’ll learn what grasses to use where, and how to design with them in a way that really sings.

We learn how Dan transformed a small space to feel very distinct and intimate, yet connected to the rest of the garden. You’ll discover this was achieved through use of colour and key grasses, whilst making the most of the free-draining conditions.

Dan teaches the value of embracing a site’s poor conditions as a unique planting opportunity; using drought-tolerant, self-seeding plants to create a dynamic planting and a sense of nature reclaiming the manmade. You’ll also learn how to manage and edit self-seeders in the garden.

Dan shares a favourite way to easily and inexpensively fill an empty space to provide immediate colour and interest, as well as discussing the value of annuals in a garden.