Garden designer Chris Beardshaw chooses his favourite borders in gardens across the country (2024)

Britain is undoubtedly blessed with a dazzling array of grand, historic and rousing gardens open to the public.

These horticultural treasures, like works of art, become etched in our memories; sources of inspiration that ignite a passion to further explore, refine and develop our own gardens creatively.

However, if we were to extract just a single canvas from the complex blend within these gardens, then arguably it would be the border. Like all great artworks, the border is simple in essence; a collection of predominantly perennial plants choreographed to perform as a set piece. Often they are within enclosures – walls or manicured hedges – and frequently they’re accompanied by shrubby punctuation to add drama and visual highlights.

Borders reference not only the diversity of plants in our potential palette but also the ebb and flow of seasonal colour that animates this most refined horticultural performance, elevating it to a mesmerising crescendo, usually in the peak of summer.

Attempt to recreate an inspiring border and the true genius of its creator becomes apparent. Pursue the individual threads of planting and the real complexity emerges. What is required is an ability not simply to place plants but to consider diverse issues such as climate and microclimate within the border; its context within the wider garden; aspect and light and their effect on the perception of colour; the sequencing of the plants for a season-long symphony; and a skilled understanding of the scale and proportion of the border and each plant within it.

In addition, choreographing these works demands an appreciation of the variation in shape, shade, tint, tone and colour not only of the flowers but also of their stems, leaves and buds. Every single plant selected is the embodiment of such specific qualities that, quite frankly, no other will do.

Daunting as the process may sound, it is possible to learn from the masters by embracing the diversity of inspirational borders, and isolating their unique qualities and secrets. What immediately becomes evident is the sheer multiplicity of styles, and their creators’ ability to singularly pursue their vision – the starting point for any budding border designer.

10 gardens to visit for brilliant borders

1. Arley Hall

Garden designer Chris Beardshaw chooses his favourite borders in gardens across the country (1)

Arguably the ‘original’ double herbaceous borders in England, these Cheshire gardens remain a fine example of the style. The power of the scheme is amplified by the mirrored effect of the borders, which exhibit meticulous attention to detail. They create an enveloping experience.

The formality, symmetry and singular focal building ensure this is an instantly arresting set piece. Grand walls and hedges isolate the garden from its surrounds, focussing attention on the concert of delicately tiered specimens: low at the front, tall to the rear. Similarly, plants occupy rounded or scalloped spaces, with the largest spaces allocated to the rearmost plants, which serves to accentuate the impression of waves rolling onwards.

Colour, while generally reserved, is enticing because the parallel planted borders afford the opportunity for a hue to dance from one side to the other, encouraging visual exploration.

Arley Hall & Gardens, Arley, Northwich, Cheshire CW9 6NA.

2. Waterperry

Garden designer Chris Beardshaw chooses his favourite borders in gardens across the country (2)

From the top drawer of Gertrude Jekyll-style borders, the singular herbaceous plantings at Waterperry, Oxfordshire, are the creation of Beatrix Havergal, who reputedly sought for the scheme to peak on 7 July, her birthday. Demonstrating a superbly refined understanding of plant sequencing, the display actually commences in late spring with early season mound-forming classics such as geraniums, anchusa and lupins. They act as a prelude to the stately, spired masses of delphinium and verbascum, these contrasted by the plate-like heads of achillea. To reinforce the magnitude of the floral planting, climbers reach skywards on the lofty rear walls, looming over even the tallest herbaceous specimens. This is a wonderful demonstration that the relationship between boundary height and border depth is integral to the success of a scheme. The higher the former, the deeper the latter should be.

Waterperry Gardens, near Wheatley, Oxfordshire OX33 1JZ

3. West Dean

Garden designer Chris Beardshaw chooses his favourite borders in gardens across the country (3)

The newly restored Sunken Garden at West Dean in West Sussex aptly demonstrates that the visual effects of sumptuous floral borders can be heightened when combined with architecture. Here stone terraces are employed to provide a stage for successive planting cascades. Tumbling in prudently selected hues of predominantly purple, blue and white towards lower lawns and seating, this colour selection is particularly effective at implying a misty spaciousness within complex structure. Consequently, the impression of envelopment by the wash of planting creates a beguiling calm.

The effect of these borders is further enhanced when approached via the 100-metre long pergola designed by Harold Peto, itself enchantingly clothed in foliage and blooms. It serves to create a singular and constrained view that is only liberated at the end, where the pergola terminates and the entire sunken borders come into sight.

West Dean, Chichester, West Sussex PO18 0QZ

4. Wollerton Old Hall

Garden designer Chris Beardshaw chooses his favourite borders in gardens across the country (4)

It is hard to find a finer example of a painterly approach to gardens. Although only three decades old, the gardens at Wollerton, Shropshire, set the standard in border design. The pinnacle of late summer comes in the Lanhydrock, or Hot Garden, in which a double quadripartite paving layout allows the creation of lavishly deep borders.

As the name suggests, the planting is dominated by an overwhelming cauldron of colours from the hottest of massed blooms, perceptibly raising the temperature. The confidence to distil a single colour approach is rare on such scale but to emphasise the impression and deliberately intensify the spectacle by purposefully including the merest hints of intense blue and purple, the antithesis of the hot colours, indicates a true artist at work.

Wollerton Old Hall Garden, Wollerton, Market Drayton, Shropshire TF9 3NA

5. The Picton Garden

Garden designer Chris Beardshaw chooses his favourite borders in gardens across the country (5)

In Worcestershire, the late-summer borders at Picton demonstrate the beauty to be gained in selecting a single plant type as the basis for a design. Here it is asters and their relatives that relentlessly foam and froth from summer well into the frost of winter.

Stroll in autumn mists through the deep and sinuous borders, where statuesque plants are not confined to the back, and it is hard not to become obsessive about the performance of these tireless plants. The effect of their generous flowering and wiry stems en masse is stunning. It is proof that less is not always more, especially when the punctuation is provided from other daisy relatives such as striking rudbeckia and helianthus. They continue the theme while offering just enough contrast to embolden the scheme.

The Picton Garden, Old Court Nurseries, Walwyn Road, Colwall, Herefordshire WR13 6QE

6. Great Dixter

Garden designer Chris Beardshaw chooses his favourite borders in gardens across the country (6)

The borders at the home of Christopher Lloyd’s experiment in horticultural choreography in East Sussex politely break rules of colour combination, height association and planting position. The result is a spectacularly theatrical display.

Colours from opposing sides of the colour wheel result in a deliberate tension, and borders with energy and vigour, but overall there is harmony, not chaos. This is thanks to the consistent use of large drifts of any one plant type. Big coloured blocks of large blooms are generally avoided in favour of plants with plentiful small blooms. Airy umbels and grasses are used as well to lighten the structure. Most important of all is the conscious use of green which acts as a visual sorbet among all the other intense colours.

Great Dixter House & Gardens, Northiam, Rye, East Sussex TN31 6PH

7. Gravetye Manor

Garden designer Chris Beardshaw chooses his favourite borders in gardens across the country (7)

The former home of William Robinson and the original, natural ‘wild’ garden, Gravetye Manor in East Sussex is boundless in orchestration. Fences, hedges and walls have been deliberately removed to permit a free flow between native plants and flowering exotics. There is a delightful informality to the juxtaposition of ageing shrubs rubbing alongside exotic perennials and cheeky annuals that have perhaps unintentionally become embroiled in the displays. It would be easy to consider this an unfettered garden but the genius is that while plants appear free-form, the geometry and layout of the garden is formal and ordered, creating a powerfully engaging dialogue.

Gravetye Manor, Vowels Lane, West Hoathly, Sussex RH19 4LJ

8. Trebah Garden

Garden designer Chris Beardshaw chooses his favourite borders in gardens across the country (8)

Natural topography is employed in this Cornish valley garden where the flow of the landscape is called on to create a bowl within which circuitous paths promote informality in planting. While the notorious rhododendron and camellia plantings delight in spring, it is the hydrangea planting to the base of the valley that perhaps best demonstrates the use of predominantly shrub planting in naturalistic plantations. Cascades of powder blue and mauve resonate in the dappled shade under statuesque tree canopies, all deployed to frame views, in this case back up the valley towards the house.

Trebah Garden, Mawnan Smith, nr Falmouth, Cornwall TR11 5JZ

9. Crathes Castle

Garden designer Chris Beardshaw chooses his favourite borders in gardens across the country (9)

Heralded as the most northerly Arts and Crafts garden in the UK, Crathes is dubbed the Sissinghurst of Scotland and, located in Aberdeenshire, it is a fine example of bounty despite latitude. The compartmentalised layout of the garden lies at the heart of the borders’ success with small themed sections nestling in the lee of walls, hedges and tree plantations. Particularly striking is the use of repeated soft colour among the herbaceous walks to lengthen the view and tempt the visitor. Simple repetition of colour, texture and form throughout the borders offers a reassuring rhythm and encourages tranquil exploration.

Crathes Castle, Banchory, Aberdeenshire AB31 5QJ

10. Coton Manor

Garden designer Chris Beardshaw chooses his favourite borders in gardens across the country (10)

Glorious as individuals, roses are often perceived as difficult to combine effectively, but they abound at Coton Manor, Northamptonshire. From orchard to shrub borders and clothing the walls of the house, they are rarely out of flower in summer. Their finest use is among drifts of herbaceous plants where the graceful arching stems of the roses reach above the tapestry of perennials to provide punctuation, vertical accents, support and visual definition.

Coton Manor Garden, near Guilsborough, Northamptonshie NN6 8RQ

Garden designer Chris Beardshaw chooses his favourite borders in gardens across the country (2024)

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