Presenter: Nigel Ruck
Episode: 21 (15 September 2007)

If you like formal garden design and are perhaps thinking of building such a garden it is important to not only consider the common themes and materials of such gardens. The use of correct plants is essential to a great formal garden.

Some of the key elements that make up a formal garden are symmetry, manicured lawns, neat & tidy garden beds, and of course clipped hedges. Neatly clipped hedging plants are a great way to help define the garden into different areas.

You can create a hedge of virtually any size depending on the plants. Buxus is an old classic, which you could keep around 30cm in height, or allow it to grow to a metres or two tall.

Port Wine Magnolia makes an excellent hedge, happily clipped at around one and a half metres tall or it can be allowed to grow much bigger if you wish. It is a bit slow growing, but the beautiful perfumed flowers make it worth the wait. It looks great with lower layer of Mondo grass planted at its base.

If you want a fast growing hedge or screen, Viburnum odoratissima is a beauty it has interesting foliage, clusters of white flowers in summer, and is a very hardy plant.

Another really fast growing hedge is the Leyland Cypress. Its botanical name is x Cupressocyparis leylandii ‘Leighton’s Green’. It is a wonderful plant but just be careful when planting them as they can get very big, so big in fact that some councils are considering banning them.

In formal gardens it is a good idea to punctuate the formality with a nice feature plant or two. The Magnolia denudata, or the Yulan Magnolia, is a beautiful tree which is a great choice as a specimen tree.

The Plants
Sweet Viburnum (Viburnum odoratissima)
Japanese Box (Buxus microphylla)
Leyland Cypress (X Cupressocyparis leylandii ‘Leighton’s Green’)
Yulan Magnolia (Magnolia denudata)
Port Wine Magnolia (Michelia figo)