Go Green

Containers can often play an extremely important part in a formal garden scheme, especially large ones filled with a single plant. A classic example is agapanthus placed at the entrance to a patio or at the bottom of some steps. Again, plants with a fountain shape, such as yucca or grasses, are ideal subjects for positions such as these. A series of pots set at regular intervals down a path is also a useful device. The pots can contain perennials, annuals, or shrubs, but they should have a neat overall appearance.

Is the maintenance difficult for a formal garden? Compared with many other types of garden, formal gardens are relatively easy to maintain, although at times it is more like housework than gardening. The general design rarely needs changing, so there is little planting unless you are using areas of bedding plants. With good mulching there should be little weeding, so it is mainly down to trimming and keeping the hard surfaces in good order.

Many formal gardens use box hedges to line paths or even to surround beds completely. In really extravagant gardens a series of box hedges are used to create a knot garden. The beds within these hedges may be restricted to one or two plant types, with annual bedding plants often used to paint blocks of color within the green outlines of the box. This type of formal garden is often constructed on a grand scale, but it can be successfully emulated in smaller gardens.

Straight lines and geometric patterns can make a formal garden look very formal. Bedding laid out in lines with a regular repeat of certain plants of colors is one way to add formality to a bed or a whole garden. Sculpture and dramatic containers, even if they do not contain plants, help to give the garden an air of formality. Straight lines, whether they consist of low hedging or bedding plants and geometric shapes can create great clarity of design in a formal scheme.

There are two types of plants that can be used for a formal garden. The first one is good leaves or shape plant. Example of this type of plant is Apapanthus, Crambe, Digitalis and Hosta. The second type is good in fill plant like Ageratum, Diascia, Petunia and Lobelia erinus.