Garden getaway: 10 tips to turn your backyard into a romantic haven

Want to turn your garden into the ultimate green sanctuary from the world? Here are Tony’s top-10 tips to turn your backyard into a romantic haven.

WITH tensions flaring in the Middle East, world financial uncertainty and the egocentric posturings of some world leaders, it’s no wonder we often seek a little romance to distract our troubled minds.

Thankfully, one of the best sources of angst-soothing romance is still our gardens.

While minimalist gardens have their place, I’m quietly celebrating an apparent return to the wonderful foliage-filled, sensual and highly romantic gardens of old.

Who wants concrete and boring straight lines when you can have a verdant wonderland full of peace and beauty?

The good thing is such gardens are not that difficult to attain. They can be created over vast areas, or fitted into seemingly handkerchief spaces, using exotic plants or, if necessary, waterwise species requiring minimal maintenance.

Using a few simple design and planting ploys, it’s possible to create a wonderfully sensual and soothing garden that is both practical and a pleasure to be in.

Here are 10 tactics to spark a little garden romance.

INVITE SCREEN STARS

IT’S hard to feel relaxed when all you can see are cars whizzing past or ugly sheds — so seek out a few screening plants to create a sense of enclosure.

They could be camellias, lush-leafed lilly pillys, viburnums, magnolias such as Little Gem, weeping elms, cherries, birches or even a row of potted bamboos.

TURN OFF TIME

A SENSE of timelessness is a wonderful garden attribute. It often comes with an injection of a sense of nostalgia for past ages.

It could be an old-world perfumed rose, a path of rough-hewn bluestone blocks, an antique-looking fountain or even a collection of old metal watering cans.

PILLARS OF WISDOM

GROWING plants, especially roses, up a pillar or even a rustic arch constructed of old tree branches creates a vision of fullness and enclosure.

Good pillar roses include the soft pink/white French beauty Pierre de Ronsard, the bright red Altissimo and the palish yellow-gold award-winner Teasing Georgia from David Austin.

Or maybe a voluptuously bloomed clematis.

Back seat: Try add a seat in the garden. Picture: Tony Fawcett

SIT PRETTY

ROMANTIC gardens need to tease us to linger, and an obvious lure is an appropriately placed seat on which to fully appreciate the garden and its perfumes.

It can be an elegant job, or even one picked up second-hand from a clearing sale or tip shop (a little patina of age doesn’t hurt). Maybe even a swing or a cast-iron love seat.

MAKE MORE BETTER

ONE bloom can be beautiful, yet often more are magnificent.

Don’t hold back. Mass plant lavenders, daffodils or iris, plants that imbue visual happiness.

Resist the urge to plant formally. The beauty of such plants lies in their gypsy-like wildness, their ability to convince there’s love in the air.

JUST ADD WATER

GARDEN romance is all about atmosphere, with the reflective beauty of water — whether pond, pool or simply a bowl with maybe a few camellia blooms floated on the surface — being one of the greatest contributors. To tingle the senses more, add a tinkling fountain.

SET UP SECRETS

CREATE shady nooks and hidden grottoes clothed in foliage, secret places to find solitude while escaping day-to-day pressures.

STATUARY RIGHTS

THE Greeks and Romans knew the value of romantic statues to create mood. It might be a cheeky cherub or languishing nymph. A few well-chosen pieces can make all the difference.

MAKE GOOD SCENTS

A WHIFF of perfume can soften the worst mood. No romantic garden is complete without perfume.

Look to pots of gardenias or daphne bushes, honeysuckle, luculia or mock orange (Philadelphus).

SEE THE LIGHT

ROMANTIC gardens should work day and night.

With the numerous LED kits now available, introducing lighting has never been cheaper or easier. Consider spotlighting a favourite tree.

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