Mediterranean, Japanese, French style... so many styles and atmospheres that reflect the personalities and tastes of each person, but the key element of these different arrangements is obviously the plant. Although somewhat tamed, it remains unpredictable like all living beings but offers us so much satisfaction that we take pleasure in watching it evolve over the seasons and over the years.
For all tastes but not just anywhere
Plants are like all living beings, they need an environment adapted to their requirements. So it is a good idea to follow certain rules and observe your garden before integrating a plant into it. The three important things to take into account are exposure to the sun, the type of soil and the available space.
Plants that are more Mediterranean will require a sunnier exposure, less subject to frost, with a rather draining soil. Whereas Japanese gardens are rather composed of plants called "heather earth" requiring more shade. Thus, south-facing beds can more easily accommodate Palm trees, Olive trees, Cordylines, Bottle rinses or other Phormiums and Rosemaries while north-facing beds can have a Japanese atmosphere with Japanese Maples, Azaleas, Pieris, Heathers, Rhododendrons or Nandines.
As far as trees are concerned, it is important to inquire about their adult size and root development. Some trees have a shallow root system, which increases the risk of falling if the soil is wet and there are strong winds. This is why it is important to place trees in sufficient space, limiting root damage, allowing them to develop at their own pace, benefit from the sun and be far enough away from buildings in case of falls.
An exceptional palette
Once the biological factors are taken into account, the plant range is still so vast that it allows us to meet all our particular expectations. Often used in hedges to delimit our properties, preserve our privacy and cut off the wind, the plants chosen will most of the time be those known as "persistent". They keep their foliage all year round and this one is very often decorative. For example, the young shoots of Photinia are red, the Charcoals can be variegated, the Eleagnus are silvery or variegated, the Pittosporums can be shiny green and the Abelias cream and pink... These species are hardy and therefore do not require special attention except for their pruning once or twice a year.
Some plants have, for lack of having an evergreen, a decorative wood that allows them to get out of the game in winter, this is the case for example of the Dogwood and the twisted Hazelnut tree, the first has a wood that varies, depending on the species, from yellow to bright red or flame color, the second is decorative by the shape of its branches.
Finally, the flowering is often the determining element in the choice of a plant. To obtain a colorful garden all year round it is necessary to be attentive to the periods of flowering of each plant, the color of the flowers, the duration of this event and the smell it gives off.
Patience and reason: undoubtedly a solution.
It is true that certain fashions are taking hold in our gardens and that we would like to please ourselves by putting "remarkable" or "symbolic" plants wherever we like. Moreover, in a society where appearances count more and more and where patience is lost, we tend to want a barely laid out garden, already grown. There are also solutions (fast growing plants or planting large plants) but we must not make the mistake of putting too much at the start. In time they will invade you or die for lack of room to grow.
A garden lives, evolves and is unique but it needs time, this element is controllable within certain limits. Forcing nature has never succeeded in man, and why deprive yourself of the satisfaction of even evolving and shaping your garden over the seasons and over the years?
