It’s all a matter of balancing the outrageous show-offs with the quiet achievers, says Jo Arnell.

Garden borders can be tricky to get right. ‘I’ve looked at borders from both sides now,’ Joni Mitchell might have sung, had she been keener on gardening. If you’ve looked at yours in all weathers, in all seasons, from all angles and still somehow, you really don’t know borders at all, have one last look before chucking in the trowel.

Melianthus major is a surprisingly hardy exotic architectural anchor plant

Phlomis russelliana is a herbaceous structural plant

Phormiums provide striking border structure

Phormiums provide striking border structure

Yew topiary focal points at Great Dixter

Yew topiary focal points at Great Dixter

In Shrubs We Trust

Jo Arnell pays attention to some often-overlooked garden stalwarts Shrubs are back. I’m not sure that they ever went away to be honest, but drifts of perennials and meadow plants have been stealing the limelight in recent years. Perhaps it’s...

Making Meadows

Jo Arnell takes a wander through wonderful wildflowers and marvellous meadows I have just come in from my field with a bag of Yellow Rattle seeds, having collected them for a friend to help her establish a meadow. It’s a...

Diorama & Rust

An enchanting and truly individual garden in Bethersden is opening this August in aid of Macmillian. Jo Arnell goes along for a special preview This month we are visiting a one-of-a-kind beautiful garden in Bethersden; an archetypal Kent cottage oozing...