Paul Williams' New Border

Starting a new border is always a daunting task, but there are few jobs in the garden quite as exciting. For most of us, the problem is finding enough room to try out our ideas, but Paul Williams, gardener, designer and author, is certainly not short of space. The border of half-hardy and tender plants he is planning in the grounds of plantsman Dave Gunnell’s thriving herbaceous nursery is going to be huge – in all senses of the word – and he’s starting from scratch.

Watching a gardener as innovative and knowledgeable as Paul is always fascinating, and as we track the development of his new border there will be plenty to learn. At the moment, it’s still at the design stage – the ground is lying too wet to be worked, but as soon as it dries out and warms a little, they’ll have to move fast to improve the soil and make sure the drainage of the site is satisfactory. Luckily, in a large nursery like Dave’s there are plenty of tractors, tons of terrific compost, and enthusiastic and skilled helpers on hand.

Another challenging task that is already underway is the production of the many hundreds of plants that will be needed to fill such a large space. Paul supplies stock plants, lovingly amassed on his travels to specialist nurseries, then he and Dave set about increasing them. Despite the heating installed in the specially designated poly-tunnel, there has been some frost damage, especially to specimens growing close to the ground – taller plants were less affected. We’ll be looking at how the propagation is going as the season progresses; even on this huge scale, the principles remain the same so there will be plenty of tips for gardeners with less ambitious projects in mind.

To read an extract from Paul Williams’ latest book Garden Colour Palette, .