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The best plants to grow in any garden will, of course, depend on the conditions, soil type and pH of the site. They will also largely depend on the size of the site and its location. Yet there are some basics to consider when starting out in planning your garden.

Your plants are what you use to clothe your hard landscaping so your framework and style should already be in place. You will have your walls, patio, seating areas, water feature or whatever else you want and now the plants will be used to enhance your choice of hard landscaping and really bring the garden to life. They will bring scent, change, color, form and a living tapestry to the garden. It is how you weave it that counts.

Plants provide the soft landscaping and are used to enhance the hard landscape. Use them to fill gaps, to soften hard edges, to form a mat for a lawn and to divide areas like low hedges. Plants can also be used to delineate boundaries.

The important things to consider when choosing plants is that you create visual balance. This means simply that the visual 'weight' on one side of your site, is equal to that on the other. So, you may have a large feature (e.g. shed) and 2 medium sized trees on one side and several small trees, shrubs and plants on the other. The size of each plant and feature does not matter so long as you end up with balance.

Choose plants which enhance your theme like those from the Mediterranean area for an Italianate style garden, those from Asia for a Japanese garden and so on.

The first group of plants to consider is your trees. Will you have lots of trees? Do you need to fill some gaps with trees? What size and shape will the trees be? Do you need the trees to be deciduous or evergreen? Trees may be rounded, conical, fastigiate, open in structure or even low growing and prostrate (e.g. Juniperus squamata 'Blue Star') so choosing the right shape is important.

Some trees which are a good idea are Syringa vulgare (lilac), Quercus robur (oak), Malus domestica (crab apple), acers and prunus species. The latter three are hard working small trees which will provide many interests over the year from leaves, bark and blossom to fruit and scent (prunus).

Then, play with the shapes. On a piece of paper, sketch in the trees, changing their position, shapes and placement until you are happy. You now have your tree positions.

Shrubs come next. Decide whether you want them to perform the function of providing privacy, flowers, to attract wildlife and so on. Again, play with

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