A romantic garden always has something hidden. You can’t quite see everything. Draped in muted colour and billowy blooms, over-washed soft peaches, pinks and off-whites. Garden designer, Franchesca Watson muses on this timeless garden style and what goes into creating a garden that is irresistibly romantic
For me, a romantic garden is one that melts the heart and presents as an idyllic place of enfoldment. Romantic gardens are seldom big but if they are, they’re often divided into smaller spaces so that the entire garden is not seen in one obvious panorama.
Rather, there’s a drawing-in to discover what’s around the next corner. It’s the kind of garden where plants are allowed to express themselves, to reach out and mingle with their neighbours.
There is freedom and possibility, never status. It’s a garden where one feels immediately comfortable. It’s not egotistical or about big ideas but is instead gentle and accommodating. Overly clipped and disciplined has no place in a romantic garden. Romantic gardens tend to capture all the senses... sight, sound, touch, smell and even taste.
They often appeal to more complex associations such as childhood memory and old-fashioned ideals of beauty. In a word, romantic gardens charm as opposed to impress.
For a romantic garden of your own I’ve included my top tips and advice for creating your own little piece of paradise: Plant climbers wherever you can – over pergolas, up trees, over arches and porticos, tumbling down retaining walls. Train and prune them once a year and other than that, let them express themselves.
Include roses. If you can’t be bothered with the finicky ones, use them as climbers or choose an old variety of bush rose like Butterfly rose (Rosa x odorata ‘Mutabilis’) and plant them in ideal conditions so you don’t have to fuss about them.
Always have a bird bath and keep it topped up with clean water.
Cover the ground with plants so the garden feels fecund – bald patches are distinctly unromantic. Stay away from overly architectural plants unless you are extraordinarily talented with plant combinations. Give up on having everything clipped all the time. Get over your control issues – allow your hedges to be softer in shape rather than rectangular.
Avoid planting in patterns and single-species monocultures. Include scented plants like an easy, old fashioned honeysuckle climber for starters. Allow some plants to curl around your windows and peek in. Have plenty of shade in the garden. Shade is mysterious and soft.
Include small water features that tinkle or splash, rather than waterfalls.
Look for little flowering treasures that get no more than knee high to plant around bigger shrubs: some of my favourites are Salvia chiapensis, Agathosma ciliaris, Cyrtanthus mackenii, Crinum moorei, Scabiosa, Streptocarpus, Diascias and almost any fern.
