Do you have to have pick out points...

Hi everyone.. we are in the process of relaying our garden path and i am having borders down each side and some spreading out to incorporate the other ones i have..

I have looked up adn read many articles about this and some say you should have the same plant at measured points all the way up to keep it all tied in.. some say you dont.. do i have to have the same planting each side or can it be different..

I am at a point of being totally confused as which is best.. i have no real formality to my garden and cant decide if no structured formality is better or will look silly..

i try to go for more natural look and let plants seed themselves where ever normally in othe beds.. but i am not sure about the path..

to add some height (and as to windy for trees).. we are having a large wooden hexeganal pergula?? 2 thirds down the path for interest and wish to incorporate this in with borders with the path running through it..

any ideas on what would look good?

sorry excuse the spelling.. clicked before did spell check...

Your confused -I'm confused-not sure what it is you are asking -it is your garden after all -if you want informal planting then have informal planting-do you want regimentation?

Incidentally as I have said before you can edit your posts after posting -including spell check.

yeah i know..forgot.. not been on for some time.. brain like a sieve me

i am asking if it has to planted in a way that has one plant at points along the path to tie it in.. i have read that this is the best way down a path.. but wonder if it will tie in with the none formal borders i have..and does it have to be mirror planting on each side

Not plants but maybe similar colours then you would get more variety. Depends I guess on how formal you want it.

I'd smother the pergola in climbers as Sissinghurst white garden or for me, not room for pergola but have covered small bower with mixed clematis - for all year round interest and roses. Lots of different colours. Well it's not smothered yet - only planted up this year

gardeningfantic wrote (see)

.... i have no real formality to my garden .... i try to go for more natural look ...

That's your answer. You like things informal, and not regimented.

Even in gardens that are regimented, it's very difficult to get plants to match on both sides, because those on one side will be growing towards the light, and those on the other side will be growing away.

It's a lot simpler to keep everything informal.

It you're worried about the path looking too regimented, then you could either make the path slightly curving, in a gentle S-shape. Or if it's a straight path, then you could soften the edges by having an occasional plant spilling over onto the path.

sorry been so long getting back.. thank you all for your replies i would probably go towards the informal look.. and try to keep colours that mix together well.. mostly be pinks,red,purples,blues, with a bit of different colour thrown in along certain points.

@bjay. thanks for those tips.. i was thinking what would be best to grow over the frame work when up..

Hiya,

The garden has had a major over haul this year, and the first thing that changed was the path.

As you can see I go for the haphazard planting scheme, in time hopefully I'll a lot more plants that trail over the walls and I probably will plant into the edge of path it self to soften it up even more

Hi Gardeningfantic, if you prefer informal borders how about a hot border one side and a cool one the other side. Perhaps you could draw the designs on paper first.