Cultivating Expertise:
The Isola Masterclass
At Your Leisure Volume 4
By Charlotte Ellis.
For those looking to elevate their own gardens, James Brash of Isola Garden Design shares his definitive guide to navigating the elements.
Designing for a North-Facing Sanctuary
- Embrace the Shade: Don’t fear a lack of direct sun; instead, lean into lush, architectural foliage like large ferns.
- Invest in Stronger Hydrangeas: Opt for Hydrangea arborescens ‘Strong Annabelle’. Unlike standard Annabelles, their stems won’t flop after a heavy rain, and they thrive in semi-shade with a dose of morning sun.
- Incorporate Elegant Height: Plant Japanese Anemones. They produce beautiful, dense mounds of dark-green leaves in spring, followed by wiry, elegant autumn blossoms reaching up to 1.5 meters.
- Prioritise Winter Structure: Use evergreen topiary cushions rather than standard balls, scattering them within borders to create a living art form throughout the colder months.
- Brighten with Spring Bulbs: Use light-coloured flowers and early bulbs like snowdrops to capture and reflect the soft, ambient light of a north-facing aspect.
Designing for a South-Facing Sun-Trap
- Go Mediterranean: Utilise the full sun to plant highly aromatic, drought-tolerant herbs like Rosemary, which provide excellent evergreen structure. How lovely it is to grab some fresh Rosemary for your roast lamb on a Sunday lunchtime!
- Mind the Soil: Ensure a free-draining, stoney environment to mimic continental conditions.
- Curate a Living Symphony: Plant Geum and Aquilegia (Granny’s Bonnet) in tandem. Design your borders so that as one plant takes its final bow, the next steps into its glory.
- Expand Your Horizons: The biggest mistake amateurs make is creating borders that are too narrow. Double the size of your borders to give plants the depth they need to billow and soften hard architectural edges.
- Select Superior Lavender: Opt for Lavandula angustifolia ‘Munstead’. It boasts stronger, tighter foliage than ‘Hidcote’ when trimmed, making it perfect for classic Cotswolds paths.
The Golden Rule: A garden is never truly finished; it is a constant, beautiful work in progress. Do not try to achieve everything at once. Plant, build, and observe, season by season.” — James Brash