13 hours ago
How to put together a posh planter: a step-by-step guide
The plantsman and gardener Alexander Hoyle moves in rarified circles: he creates gardens for both smart city homes and historic country houses, and floral displays for high-end clients including the interior design shops along London's Pimlico Road. His love for plants was born during his childhood in the Cotswolds, and his style, which he describes as 'modern English country garden', was honed during his training at Aberglasney in Carmarthenshire and Kew Gardens in London.
Yet despite this pedigree, he is down to earth and informal, with a relaxed and naturalistic aesthetic that is, he says, is 'a little wild and fanciful'. His work can currently be seen at the entrance garden of the WOW!house decorator showcase at Design Centre Chelsea Harbour until July 3, where he has created a display of hundreds of planters filled with a variety of seasonal flowers and greenery. Here, he offers a step-by-step guide to putting together a beautiful planter in a similar romantic style.
Plant list:
1 x foxglove
1 x Orlaya grandiflora
1 x Euphorbia pithyusa
1 x Centranthus ruber 'Albus'
5 x Lysimachia atropurpurea 'Beaujolais'
5 x Erigeron karvinskianus
1 x Helianthemum 'Wisley Primrose'
Top tip
Alexander likes to use odd numbers of plants, to give a more natural effect, and he uses a mix of perennials and annuals.
Step one
Select a large planter – Alexander collects antique and vintage pots and planters, and in this case he is using a vintage copper pot that was originally the inside of a washing machine, with a verdigris patina. Fill your pot with peat-free compost, leaving enough room at the top for the rootball of the largest of your plants.
Step two
Start with your first anchor plant – here, the foxglove – and place it towards the front of the pot (Alexander points out that even if you place your planter in a spot where it can be seen from all sides, there is often a natural 'front' to an arrangement).
Step three
Continue to add your anchor plants – here, the orlaya, euphorbia and centranthus – and space them out a little within the planter, in a way that looks as if they have grown there naturally. Try to ensure there is a gentle gradation in the height of your plants, to give your arrangement some movement.
Step four
Fill in the body of your arrangement with the lysimachia plants. Alexander has split his five plants into a group of two and a group of three, and placed them among the anchor plants, so that it looks as though the latter are growing up through the lysimachia, as they would in nature.
Step five
Add the helianthemum towards the front of the arrangement, so that it spills over the edge of the pot. Alexander acknowledges that yellow can be a controversial colour for some, but here it adds an accent of colour that contrasts with the verdigris finish of the planter.
Step six
Fill in the edge of your arrangement around the rim of the pot with the erigeron plants, again placing them at a slight angle so that they trail over the edge of the planter and soften the edges of the pot.
Step seven
