What makes a good herbaceous border? If you’re planning to make your flower borders look stunning, don’t miss these tips and ideas from inspiring private and professional gardens. I’ve put the tips I’m going to use myself when completely revamping my main herbaceous border this year – and setting myself the challenge of making my herbaceous border look better than it ever has! So do join me – wherever you live, these tips will help you transform your own borders.
00:00 Welcome
00:32 Clear your border first
01:50 Using yellow in herbaceous borders
02:18 6 Perennials That Flower All Summer video: https://youtu.be/xZr4n75Cr6g
03:24 See more of Great Comp Garden in the Expert Tips on Salvias video: https://youtu.be/2zOkpJ52T40
03:38 A white flower bed border – how to use white
06:20 Rosy Hardy YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/@UCAqAumqgJ3NoIPYDZGxZL4g
06:55 Doddington Place Gardens in Kent: https://www.doddingtonplacegardens.co.uk/
07:14 Joff Elphick’s Pot & Cloche podcast: https://www.joffelphick.co.uk/podcast/
07:20 Blue in a herbaceous border
08:00 How to create stunning garden borders with Tom Brown video: https://youtu.be/SQRTVeCLHmE
08:20 Think about foliage shape when planning a flower border
08:59 Reds and pinks together in a herbaceous border
09:25 How to plant a stunning perennial border video with Steve Edney: https://youtu.be/1QWrbmxnJAI The argument over the persicaria is at 14.34.
09:47 How to place plants by height in a herbaceous border
10:09 ‘Hot’ herbaceous borders
10:24 See more of Gravetye Manor Hotel’s autumn borders in 6 Best Shrubs for Late Season Colour video: https://youtu.be/GciMgkU7NtE
10:46 Naturalistic planting design – how to get it right in your own garden video with Michael McCoy garden design: https://youtu.be/1i18ZutJV8c
10:49 Contrast plant shapes in your herbaceous border – round, upright and horizontal
11:15 See more of this garden in How to Make a Flower Border Look Amazing video: https://youtu.be/qxVxUDkiwWs
12:15 Middlesized Garden Beautiful Borders Planning Checklist: https://www.themiddlesizedgarden.co.uk/the-middlesized-garden-beautiful-borders-planning-checklist/
12:35 Beautiful borders playlist – videos to transform your garden borders: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrZRLHPUbGmCjrR_RaI01_mGKMaTlx_gf
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35 Comments
So much information in this video, all the borders look amazing. That said I think first & foremost is to choose plants that will grow in your soil type(mine is heavy clay) & also whether sunny, part sun , shade etc.
Thank you. Another wonderful video and very on topic with a lot of gardeners who want to start again with borders since the drought of last year.
I love this. I am redoing beds and I love all the ideas. I can get stuck sometimes!
Another brilliant video. Thank you for the great compilation of design insights, suggestions, and beautiful photos which are so instructive as well. Can't wait to see in what direction you decide to take your border, but I'm already delighted to see your use of grasses. My planting area is somewhat smaller, but they are in my design this year, as well. Thank you!
Thank you for all the inspiration!
I revamped my one perennial border last year keeping only the roses and peonies and adding new perennials. I also added hydrangeas, dahlias and glads. My white garden has turned into white, blues, purple and pinks. I guess I just love colour too much. Perennial borders are my favourite. This video is truly inspirational. Bonny zone 5b Canada new subscriber
I am so looking forward to see your new beds
But I agree with the Gardner John Lord on saying be careful of a white border as if you need to keep up with dead heading as a white border can turn dirty look as I agree with and I notice no matter how you try yellow flowers are the last to go and do give that harvest look 👀 but also colour is good for depression the brain health makes people stop warring black and brings in good humour it has been practiced by the mental professionals for a long time even in cemeteries black tombstones are so down compared to putting an up lifting colour
God Bless the work ahead I just know it going to brilliant
So much good information, will have to watch again!
Always great information 🌼🐝
This was interesting. I have been putting off making choices and ended up with an empty border full of weeds. I know it's 'trowel and error' but it's the expense of buying at least three plants of one type and then getting wrong that's making me hesitate. I feel emboldened by this. I look forward to seeing your new border. I wonder if you have ever visited Wollerton Old Hall Garden in Shropshire. It is one of my favourites
Can’t find the link to the other videos
Thank you, Alexandra, for another practical, inspiring video! Do you have any recommendations/formulas/ratios for border size? I have a very small backyard and I’m struggling with proportions – in particular, what the depth of my borders should be (front to back) to create impact. Than you ❤🌼
i sure do not like yellow, except in daffodils, and my moms from england so maybe its inherited, although my mom did like yellow, i would pick on her when she planted yellow!!!
Oh wow! Absolutely loved this video. So very inspirational. Has me eager to do something about my borders which i felt left a lot to be desired last summer. Admittedly the hot, dry Summer didn't help but I felt there was something lacking in the hot border. My blue, white and silver border made up for it- south facing, well drained and planted for the situation. My only small border in the garden that has a lovely sunny position. I have day lilies, Rudbeckias, Geums, Heliopsis and Heleniums in the hot border, but still feel it needs more oomph! Not sure what else to plant there or how to rearrange it though. Thank you again, Alexandra, for another great video
Luv the video i can't be disiplined mine te d to just ramble but I get pleasure from this living in Australia idont have to bring plants in over winter
Really great advice, and your video makes the point that there is not one "correct" way to design. I like to remind myself that even if I were able to design the perfect garden on paper, various bits would not go as planned, and if I make a mistake or two or twenty, it is always possible to edit.
Lovely border. I always get inspiration from your channel. Thank you
It would be great if you show step by step how to plan and plant your new border. I would like to do over my perennial bed and like you I have some plants I cannot take out ex: my tree peony, a lilac and a small peony. Thank you.
Lovely post
I feel as though I live and garden in one of the most challenging climates in my country (and maybe most). I would love to live and grow in a temperate English climate as I can only drool over the variety in the borders! Alas I choose plants that can withstand
my climate extremes and don’t have the luxury to choose by color palate. I’m too busy just trying to get things to survive from one season to the next! Mine are chosen for hardiness or sun exposure. I do enjoy the inspiration and thought.
Thank you.
Love this video, like them all. I like yellow, it mixes well with all my greens, purple, blues,
lilac, white & deeper purples. Late Spring all my Hippies come up & my col. palette changes
again. Overall, I try to keep cols. together. However, I do surprises.
I love white in a garden! My pool garden is full of white flowers in summer. May is for iris alba and star jasmine and Althea. Then come the peruvian lilies, crinums, moonflowers, brugmansia, hosta, hydrangea, clematis and vinca. August and September is for sedum, ginger lilies, and white roses. The vinca, petunias, cosmos, and impatiens are still going strong. Pure white has an almost reflective quality, enchanting at night but hard to find pure pure white. For me, jemison weed (moonflower) and ginger lilies are the brightest of the whites and they POP! I felt that the aqua of the pool was already enough color in this area. I wanted something visually cooling and the white really takes the temperature down. I do however rely on an evergreen structure of mature privet, tea olive, camelia, acuba, magnolia, nandina, daphne, viburnum, and pineapple guava. The wide variance of texture, shape, and color of the foliage is the secret sauce that makes all white garden interesting. I so want to add festiva maxima peonies. If anyone here lives in a hot, humid climate not suited for peonies, but has beat the odds please give me advice!
Very beautiful garden views, I’m looking forward to seeing your border creations. Thanks for sharing your garden revamps. 👍❤️😊
Those borders are amazing. I'm changing my borders as well and I left the roses in too.
Thanks again for a lovely video Alexandra. I found it very interesting and useful. I've written quite a few things down.
Yes! So many things to think about. Lots of great info. An issue I have with white flowers is with our heat, they can turn brown very quickly. Roses are fine, and I use white alyssum and bacopa in pots or at ground level to visually lighten up that area. White flowers in shady locations are good for the same reason. A number of plants come in various colors, so you can get the texture or size you want, but may choose colors that work. I'm not a fan of orange, and was annoyed that a packet of tiger lily bulbs ended up producing lots of orange lilies without a spot or stripe in sight. I'm digging those up this week to pass off to the friends who loved them when I posted the photos last spring. 🙂
Lot of good suggestions. Always enjoy❤❤
It would be interesting to explore the use of colour in different climates. In the UK, one sees quite a bit of the blue-lavender-pink palette, but here in Zone 6a Canada – which is much sunnier and hotter – those flowers don't always thrive. Light frequency has an influence on colour, so perhaps we would all be well advised to familiarize ourselves with what works best where we garden. I'm in Ontario, and London UK is 556 miles to the north of me. I envy your blues!
Brilliant content – now completely hooked on your channel. Quick question for you. I’m creating my own 2 meter depth boarder and was wondering once I’ve planted all my plants. If the front plants come up first how do the plants at the back and lower down grow without as much sun? Many thanks in advance.
This is so timely . We (90%) cleared a border at the start of winter and , inspired by the Moskowitz border video, mulched it well. I have just started thinking about planting it and will watch this video a few times more for inspiration. I have already taken on board the advice to plant in larger groups than three . The border checklist is an excellent idea too.
So much inspiration 😍
So much great info!
1:01 That bird feeder is in a bad place. The birds are exposed and vulnerable to sparrowhawk attacks. Place feeders as close to hedges as possible. I place mine in hedges. It gives birds the ultimate protection.
Such a good video! More like this please!