Style Guide – Romantic Gardens Part 2

from The Weatherstaff PlantingPlanner – intelligent garden design software

Romantic gardens are more ordered than the haphazard jostling of a cottage garden. The garden will be delightful not just to look at, but also to smell, hear, touch, perhaps even taste.

Plants for a Romantic Garden

There will be roses, of course, and they must have an old-fashioned scent. David Austin’s roses are renowned for their excellent range of colour, combined with the ability to repeat-flower and the fragrance of old garden roses.

Red roses in a romantic garden.
Rosa Falstaff

Rosa Falstaff is a fragrant shrub rose, with deep crimson petals. It grows to 1.25m high.

Roses in a romantic garden. Weatherstaff PlantingPlanner
Rosa Generous Gardener

The Generous Gardener is a climbing rose, growing to 4.5m. Its pale pink blooms carry a delicious Old Rose fragrance. It has earned the RHS Award of Garden Merit.

Camellias and peonies (or paeonies) are rose lookalikes, with their delicate clusters of multi-layered petals.

Camellias in a romantic garden
Camellia × williamsii ‘Anticipation’

Camellia × williamsii ‘Anticipation’ is an upright shrub, with double, deep pink flowers in late winter and early spring.

Red peony - herbaceous perennial
Herbaceous peony

Most peonies are herbaceous perennials, dying back to ground level in autumn. They flower abundantly in early to mid-summer. Paeonia lactiflora ‘Duchesse de Nemours’ has large, scented, pure white flowers. ‘Bowl of Beauty’ has pink flowers with a cream centre.

Tree peony
Tree Peony ‘Kamada-Fuji’

There are also woody shrub peonies. The tree peony is China’s national flower and has enormous, breath-taking blooms. Kamada-Fuji is a tree peony with beautiful pale lilac flowers.

Philadelphus coronarius 'Aureus' - scented shrub for a romantic garden
Philadelphus coronarius ‘Aureus’

Well-behaved shrubs provide structure in garden borders. Choisya (Mexican Orange Blossom) and Philadelphus have fragrance as well as pretty flowers.

  • Climbing plant for romantic gardens.
    Clematis
  • Climbing plant ideas for a romantic garden
    Wisteria
  • Lonicera (honeysuckle) - climber for romantic gardens
    Honeysuckle

Clematis, wisteria and honeysuckle are perfect for clambering over arbours in a romantic garden. Or go for more roses – this time, the climbing or rambling ones.

Perennials for romantic gardens
Campanula lactiflora Loddon Anna

Include perennials like Geranium Johnson’s Blue, Nepeta, Verbena bonariensis and Campanula ‘Loddon Anna’ for luscious flowers.

Heart shaped flowers of Lamprocapnos
Lamprocapnos or Dicentra spectabilis

And what could be more romantic than the heart shaped Lamprocapnos (also known as Dicentra spectabilis or bleeding heart)?

Grasses in a romantic garden
Pennisetum alopecuroides Hameln

Swaying grasses are also very tactile, adding to the sensory feel of a romantic garden.

Herbs in a romantic garden
Dill

Herbs are perfect for a romantic garden, because they can be touched and smelled, as well as tasted.

Spring bulbs in a romantic garden
Camassia leichtlinii

Don’t forget spring bulbs for an early display of flowers. A swathe of camassia, grape hyacinths and scilla are fabulous early in the year. Plant up as many pots as you can spare with narcissi and tulips.

Romantic Gardens Part 2 - from Weatherstaff garden design software
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The Weatherstaff Team