GardenLens

Your garden style

Bright cottage, alive
with pollinators

A relaxed, informal planting style. Soft drifts of colour that spill over edges, with structure from a few key shrubs. Chosen for your sandy, free-draining soil and a sunny back garden in East London.

CottageBright mixPollinator-first Low to medium careWater-wise

Your colour palette

Golden

Deep blue

Cornflower

Rose-purple

Cerise

Scarlet

What you'll get

93plants

13species

3seasons

£443estimated

Step 1 · Understanding your garden

Existing garden

Your plot in contextThe garden outlined against its neighbours

What's there todayHouse, patio, garden and the ways out

Step 2 · Reading the site

Sun & shade

How much direct sun each part of your garden gets across the year.

Full sun6+ hrs direct sun

25%

Mostly sun4–6 hrs

29%

Part shade2–4 hrs

35%

Shadeunder 2 hrs

11%

The cooler green runs along your south-east boundary, where next door blocks the midday sun. The rest of the garden, and your patio, sit in good light for most of the day.

Step 3 · Choosing your plants

Plant palette

Every plant chosen for your light, soil and style, with the pot size to buy, the size it reaches, and how many you need.

For the sunny ground8 species · 47 plants

×5

Drift perennial

Catmint

Nepeta x faassenii

Blue Spring

0.38×0.45 mBees · high

×1

Structure shrub

Cotoneaster

Cotoneaster horizontalis

Pink-white Spring

0.75×1.12 mBees · high

×7

Edging

English lavender

Lavandula angustifolia

Violet-blue Summer

0.45×0.52 mBees · high

×20

Bulb layer

Hyacinth

Michaelmas daisy

Symphyotrichum

Blue-violet Autumn

0.68×0.34 mBees · high

Mildew if dry

×5

Drift perennial

Perennial cornflower

Centaurea montana

Blue Spring

0.38×0.45 mBees · high

13 species in your palette93 plants

Step 4 · Planning the year

Season wheel

Each band is one plant. Follow it round to see when it blooms, and how the colour hands off month to month.

J

F

M

A

M

J

A

S

O

N

D

Every dot is a plant in flower that month · peak is 8 at once

Bloom times

Bergamot

Jul–Sep

Catmint

May–Sep

Chives

May–Jun

Cotoneaster

May–Jun

English lavender

Jul–Aug

Foxglove

Jun–Jul

Hyacinth

Mar–Apr

Michaelmas daisy

Sep–Oct

Perennial cornflower

May–Jul

Purpletop vervain

Jun–Oct

Snowy mespilus

Apr

Tickseed

Jun–Sep

Yarrow

Jun–Aug

Flowering months from the GardenLens UK database. Timing shifts a week or two with the season and your microclimate.

Step 5 · Your garden's potential

Your garden design

The whole gardenEvery plant, drawn in place

The spacesWhat each part of the garden is for

Circular dining areaFinished with gravel or pavers

Natural stepping stone pathFrom the lawn up to the dining area

Informal seatingOpen lawn space, with the boulders as edging

Your shopping list

Total93 plants

Estimated budget

Estimated, 93 plants£443

Prices are estimates and vary by nursery, pot size and season. Buying bare-root or in smaller sizes brings the figure down.

A

Snowy mespilus

Amelanchier lamarckii

Quantity×1

Buy as12 L pot · 1.5–2 m whip

Planted inFull sun · 6+ hrs

RoleSpecimen/Focal

FlowerWhite

Spread at 75%3.00 m

B

Cotoneaster

Cotoneaster horizontalis

Quantity×2

Buy as3 L pot · 30–40 cm

Planted inFull sun · 6+ hrs

RoleStructure

FlowerPink-white

Spread at 75%1.12 m

C

English lavender

Lavandula angustifolia ‘'Hidcote'’

Quantity×7

Buy as2 L pot · 20–25 cm

Planted inFull sun · 6+ hrs

RoleEdging

FlowerViolet-blue

Spread at 75%0.52 m

D

Foxglove

Digitalis purpurea

Quantity×3

Buy as9 cm pot

Planted inPart shade · 2-4 hrs

RolePunctuation

FlowerPink-purple

Spread at 75%0.38 m

E

Purpletop vervain

Verbena ‘'Lollipop'’

Quantity×3

Buy as9 cm pot

Planted inMostly sun · 4-6 hrs

RolePunctuation

FlowerPurple

Spread at 75%0.30 m

F

Bergamot

Monarda ‘'Cambridge Scarlet'’

Quantity×5

Buy as2 L pot

Planted inPart shade · 2-4 hrs

RoleDrift

FlowerScarlet

Spread at 75%0.38 m

G