Make your borders beautiful! Tips and advice from Tom Brown, head gardener at West Dean Gardens in Sussex. How to create lush, colourful borders without it turning into a mess.
West Dean Gardens are beautifully restored historic gardens with exciting and innovative planting. Open to the public for most of the year: https://www.westdean.org.uk/gardens
0:00 Welcome
1:50 Head gardener and garden writer Tom Brown https://twitter.com/headgardenertom
1:52 What is the starting point for creating a border?
5:18 What percentage of a border should be perennials or annuals?
6:12 How many different varieties of plants should you have in a border to make it look lush, but not messy?
7:48 What plants mingle together well without turning into a mess
9:12 What is a good succession of plants for colour throughout the year?
10:06 List of plants to give you a succession of ‘fireworks’ in the garden
11:24 How deep should a flower border be?
11:57 How deep should flower borders be in a narrow garden?
12:59 How to plant a plant
14:55 Do we have to keep to the spacing between plants recommended on the label?
15:39 How to create natural patterns or drifts without it looking messy?
16:40 How can amateur gardeners get full, colourful borders like the ones you see in professionally run gardens? Is there one really good tip?
16:50 The white flowers are Astrantia major
17:24 The best tip is to mulch. That means putting a layer (5-10cm/2-3 inches) of garden compost, mushroom compost or soil improver on your soil once a year.
17:58 Tips on staking plants
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43 Comments
I LOVE this series. So much information, it’s literally life-changing for our home garden. Do you know the name of the deep purple flowers around 16:38? Thank you so much!
So soothing & helpful!
Lots of very useful information by Tom! Compliments.
I really enjoyed this, thank you! Paula
how you can avoid by the end of the season to have the border look full even i planet the flower by month to month
Love this interview. Lots of interesting questions well answered.
Really like the way he looks at his plants as unruly children
Great lesson on everything from planning, purchasing and planting all in one. Maintenance and trimming are the hard followup. Thanks
Love this! Great questions Alexandria!
Oooh so beautiful. The red poppies jumped right off the video. Oh how I love what they do I believe I have some puppies that I will be planting here soon. So much to look forward to in the beginning of May 2022 when it comes to gardening. If only the rain would stop just a little while
That was one of the best and most informative videos I’ve ever seen on perennial borders, thank you.
Thank you Alexandra and Tom. Not a word wasted in this video! Everything useful, clear, informative. One of your best.
@19.29 omg whay is that orange flower amongst the red poppies please?
Excellent informative video 👍🏼 Can someone tell me what the orange flowered plant is that is next to the poppies at timeline 16:04? Much appreciated
Thanks from France ! Good advices for my borders. Gardening is so hummm ! 🙂 Laurent
Wow!
Another really helpful video, i am learning so much!! X
What a good teacher Tom Brown is.
I love your organized outline approach to these videos
Great information and suggestions! Thank you!
I follow a gardener in the US who uses products from Espoma when planting anything. There are a few varieties but I’ve used plant tone and flower tone this year and it has made a tremendous difference in how fast everything is growing. I especially think my flowers did not experience any shock after planting and instead immediately began flowering and were lush and vibrant.
This is a very valuable video that I will be using in my gardens in Zone 3 in Canada. I have watched this 3 times already and adding notes in my gardening journal. I have filled in garden beds in my front and back yard, do winter sowing for our climate as well led grow lights. I have yet to get a greenhouse but it is on my list. Thank you again this is so enriching 🌷💐🦋🐝
This guy is so full of great advice. Thanks so much for sharing! Does he have a YouTube channel? Would love to see more!
Really great tips there. Learnt a lot and really got me thinking.
I LOVE this video. So much inspiration, informative goodness. I've saved this so I can watch it again and again.
I need a good book from him.
Thanks for the upload ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Brilliant tips! Thank you!
Thank you for such a wonderful video! He was very generous with his knowledge
Very beautiful ❤️❤️❤️
So much information in one video! Would love to know what the stunning architectural plant in the background at 16:24 is
Great information.thank you
Passionnant. J’ai beaucoup appris dans cette vidéo. Merci.
What was the red flower featured at 11:24 when he was talking about the daisy family/asters?
With this video I have learned more than during my life practicing in my garden and reading about the garden border. Thank you very much to both of you!
Alexandra, i would love a video on espalier trees which is what west dean is particularly famous for.
Are any of your videos available with Spanish sub titles? My friend is Co structure her home and has land for a mid size garden, and your videos would be so helpful, but she does not speak English. Thank you!
I've watched this video few times……there's so much good information here. Thank you both. I have one point I would love clarifying please…..you asked about plant spacing. I think the answer was to plant a foot apart. Did the gardener mean that each 9cm pot should be planted a foot from the next one or that each clump of plants should be a foot away from the next clump?
I hope you see my question even though it's months since you posted the video!
Please keep posting!
Very helpful – as always. Thank you
Really brilliant info thanks a million Lucy…Tom is so easy to follow
Это лучший канал о садах! Я счастлива, что нашла его! Изучаю английский язык, чтобы слушать вас без субтитров! Большое спасибо!
Thank you thank you so many helpful tips
What a fantastic video! This is probably one of the most helpful gardening videos I've ever seen. Thank you!
Love your channel. My favorite gardening information source. Wondering if you’ve ever considered a video on just strong architecture/structural plants for gardens? Would love this.
Excellent tips!! Thank you!