We’ve made an early start to our garden landscaping portfolio this season – planting up a Mediterranean-style gravel bed for a client in Weymouth. Although fairly close to the property, the site of the bed is open and exposed, with good drainage – augmented by some additional gravel during planting for some of the less hardy plants used. The planting is deliberately well-spaced to allow for the growth that will follow over coming seasons, while the membrane will help to keep weeding down to a minimum.

The planting scheme features some of the stalwarts of the ‘sub-tropical’ style – Agave americana ‘Variegata’, Astelia ‘Silver Spear, Astelia ‘Westland’, Chamaerops humilis, Cordyline australis, Phormium tenax and Phormium ‘Tricolor’ – and also a few less well known specimens; Aloe arborescens, Aloe ‘Black Gem’, Aloe mutabilis, Elegia tectorum, Fascicularia bicolor and Yucca whipplei. I look forward to revisiting the bed in a season or three!