The south-facing front garden

The South-Facing Front Garden

In stark contrast to the shady back garden, this sun-drenched area was an opportunity to use a totally different plant palette and colour field to create a welcoming space that provides a sensory experience and tells a story of our clients' heritage.

There is a distance of around 8 m between the front door and the pavement, which gives a planting area that's generous enough to tell a nice little story. This allowed us to put another plant palette together that would provide year-round interest and also a sense of arrival.

Considerations for the Plant Palette

1. Perfume

This helps to create the sense of arrival. Coming off the pavement, you're immediately greeted by the sweet, slightly musky perfume of the valerians. As you brush past the scented plants on your way to the front door, it's a lovely sensory experience.

2. Memories

Our clients are from Greece, so this is another reason why we've used quite a few aromatic Mediterranean plants, which of course love the heat and sunshine at the front of the property. We've got oreganos, mints, myrtles – things they're familiar with.

3. Structure

The structural plants are very useful in providing some separation between the pavement and the seat.

• We've put a medlar (Mespilus germanica) by the front gate – a wonderful old, very English-feeling fruit tree. Eventually, this will from a natural archway, and we'll walk underneath it to get into the garden, giving a wonderful sense of progression from the pavement into the private area.
• We also have a white wisteria, which will eventually clad the front of the house.
• Evergreen myrtles (Myrtus) are added to provide winter structure and interest.

4. Year-Round Interest

The perennials provide immediate impact, and the ground will be completely covered with them after only two years. Around the structural myrtles, we have this flow of perennials that come and go throughout the seasons to provide layering and a succession of interest.

• This starts with the spring bulbs and continues right through to autumn, and is then taken onwards by the things we leave standing throughout the winter, such as the wonderfully structural seedheads of the fennel.

So there are some quick wins in the front garden with the perennials, and then things we're prepared to wait for, like the wisteria and the medlar.

The Colour Difference

Our clients were initially very clear that they wanted the colour palette for both gardens to be whites and greens to give a calm and refined atmosphere.

At the back of the house where we've got shade, the white is perfect because whites, creams and pale yellows reflect light, creating a sparkle and shimmer in the shadows. The Viola cornuta Alba Group for instance is enough to punch light into the planting and stop it feeling flat.

• I'm also very fond of using large numbers of small flowers rather than larger flowers that grab your attention. It's like using little dots of paint – you can inject colour in quite a refined way.

So the back garden is predominantly greens, with an overlay of whites and creams that are really good in the shade.

This is in great contrast to the front of the house, which is bathed in sunshine, and where I persuaded my clients to open up the colour palette a bit more. Some key players in the front garden include:

• Rosa x odorata 'Mutabilis' – a refined rose with small, single flowers whose colour changes from apricot to quite a hot pink over the season. This was also used in the walled garden at Little Dartmouth.
• That mutability of colour is really beautiful because it means you're always looking at the same thing in a slightly different way.
• Because the flowers are small and simple, it's not a heavy colour, but you can inject quite a lot of colour by using it very delicately.
• Bronze fennel (Foeniculum vulgare 'Purpureum') – an emergent perennial that creates contrast and provides more colour with its rich, warm foliage.
• Evening primrose (Oenothera) – peachy-coloured blooms that open in the evening to provide colour and luminosity as the light is fading.

The front garden is a completely different place, and there the colour is more energised. The palette of plants we've used creates an entirely different atmosphere, which is a lovely contrast and helps to tell a story as you pass through the front garden, through the house and out into the cool garden at the rear.

Further Resources

I've also used medlars in my garden at Hillside. Learn more about this often-overlooked fruit in our blog.

Plant Directory

• Mespilus germanica
• Myrtus
• Viola cornuta Alba Group
• Rosa x odorata 'Mutabilis'
• Foeniculum vulgare 'Purpureum'
• Oenothera

Your Assignment

Brainstorm the mood you want to create in your garden, and any colours or features that you associate with this.