A sloping front garden in a semi-shady spot – a candidate for dull shrubs and a wheelie bin? Or an opportunity to turn up the style dial?

Ruth told me she wanted to enjoy the sights, textures and smells of her garden every time she walked up to her front door. I put a few moodboards and designs together and we chose this one with a totally green and white palette and that scrapped the old curved path for a dog-legged ‘catwalk’ of slate that would give Ruth a sense of journey and little vantage points to enjoy her plants; romantic but contemporary too.

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And below is the ‘before and after’ end result, just after planting! Rambling white hedge roses, lavender and cosmos at the sunny end of the garden give way to white geraniums, astrantia and libertia in the shadier area. A low wave of white hydrangea skirt the base of the house.

Studded through the garden are the box squares, acting as punctuation and turning points on the walk. These were in fact the inspiration for the design; as they grow outwards they’ll be low green table tops amongst the fronds and froth of the perennials.

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Next year it’ll knit together and become really scented and verdant. Proof that front spaces can be as much of a joy to walk through each day as our back gardens.