We’re in the exciting process of designing some new borders at Uppark and we need to ensure there’s something of interest for visitors to enjoy for most of the year; we call it “a long season of interest”, or “long seasonality”, and for us it stretches from March to November.

If you’re interested in designing a border yourself, measure up your site and mark it out on paper to scale. If you have a rough idea of the colours you’d like to use but don’t know the plant specifics, that’s fine; just fill in your colours within large blocks or “clouds” on your plan, and start to build a picture of what you’d like to achieve. If you’ve got a computer, you can use software called Pinterest to create picture boards of various plants – we love using it at Uppark.

Next, find a local nursery (I would recommend using a peat-free nursery) and ask them for advice about which plants to include; try to have a mix of shrubs and perennials. However, before you start selecting plants, do a little research into your soil structure: is it freely draining, is it clay or chalk, or even loam? Loam is soil composed of sand, silt and clay (the concentrations of which can vary, but generally it contains more nutrients, moisture, organic matter and drainage qualities than sandy soils).

It’s also a good idea to record the pH of the soil to determine its acidity or alkalinity. This will influence your choice of plants. You can get kits from many garden centres and the tests are pretty easy to carry out. It’s worth mentioning the pH to the nursery when you make your initial contact, they’ll quickly send you in the right direction.

The garden at Uppark really comes alive during April and May with many scented shrubs releasing their subtle fragrances, perennials filling out by the day, and flowers emerging, such as Lady’s mantle and Salvia May Night, which look great together.

Next month, we’ll look in more detail at designing borders, and how to group plants.

  • Visit Andy Lewis’s blog at upparkgarden.wordpress.com
  • Uppark House and Garden, South Harting, Petersfield, West Sussex, GU31 5QR, Tel: 01730 825857, www.nationaltrust.org.uk/uppark
  • House, garden, shop and restaurant open every day except Fri and Sat from Mar 17 to Dec 22 (excluding Nov 4 to 16)