This year’s RHS Flower Show Tatton Park gave us garden inspiration in spades - so we asked the creators of some of our favourite spaces to share the techniques behind their designs
The Phytosanctuary Garden
By Kristian Raey, Young Garden Designer of the Year
People tend to relax more if they feel enclosed in a space and I've used various techniques to achieve that in this garden. The feature wall, as well as the hedges and the trees planted in the corners, give a lovely vertical element; you can do something similar with a trellis if a wall doesn't work for you. There's also plenty of height in the borders. There are no straight lines; all the borders are undulating and planted loosely for a romantic, Mediterranean feel so it's like they're hugging you as you walk through. I've used softer blues and whites at the front of the borders and more vibrant yellows at the back to draw your eye through the garden.
The BBC North West Tonight Sunshine Garden
by Lee 'Garden Ninja' Burkhill
People can get obsessed with symmetry in smaller gardens but that's often a mistake. This works nicely because I've used an asymmetric design which gives me more space and generous proportions. Instead of two slimmer borders I've used one large one and ran the path down one side of the garden, which gives room for a bigger arbour than you'd think would work in this space. Another benefit of a big border - it hides a multitude of sins; weeds are less noticeable! Always think about how best to make the most of the space you have; here even the fence has climbers coming down it.
Contemplation Corner
by Pip Probert, Outerspaces
I love colour and I love to create features that don't cost the earth. Here we used a mixture of slatted trellis panels as well as new and old scaffold boards and gave them a light wash with a Cuprinol Shades product in a coral colour. It added a warmth to the garden and connected to the planting colour-scheme, which used clashing oranges and pale pinks linked by deeper shades of the same colours - with the odd pop of purple to stand out from the rest. They may clash side by side but in the bigger picture they work beautifully.
Baroque Garden
by Laurence Senior
I specialise in Baroque and Tudor style gardens that have grandeur and a restrained elegance. To create unity across the garden I've used various shades of terracotta, from the handmade bricks to the large, regal urns. To create a historic look I pointed the bricks with lime mortar. The lilypond is a stunning centre piece and the design around it is very formal - but then it's all softened by the planting that's wild and diaphanous with delicate white flowers. Together it becomes a secluded, idyllic setting.
The Art and Nature of Port Sunlight
By Liam English, Best Back to Back Garden winner
We made the most of the space by creating banks of soil in the centre of the borders that sat around 45cms above the level of the grass. This allowed us to create height without having to use very tall plants and it also increased the surface area of the soil so we could simply fit more in. It's a great technique to use in smaller gardens. It also means that the soil will drain a little easier, increasing the range of plants you can pop in there. For the backdrop we used a Portuguese Laurel hedge which has glossy leaves and reflects light back into the space.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here