Dressing a front door

Posted by Amanda on Jan 12, 2011 in Blog, Family garden, Plants and gardening, Projects | 0 comments

This driveway slopes down towards a north facing front door but the myriad of underground pipes prevented planting straight into the ground. However, this still allowed us to delight in winter planting!

I wanted to create a clear, inviting pedestrian entrance point at the front of the house to counter-act the downward slope and lift our eyes upwards again. Taking into account the restrictions underground, I decided to use planted wooden tubs each side of the door planted with the strong, vertical shapes of Buxus sempervirens cones and softened with variegated sedge, Carex oshimensis ‘Evergold’, with Cornus and Helleborus and Galanthus (snowdrops) planted in the ground along the border.  In the summer, the house is soft and leafy; autumn brings bright yellow leaf colour from the Cornus and in winter, red and orange stems stiffly show through snow, until the Helleborus and Galanthus begin the year again.

My client has spent many years living in Sweden and decorates her front door with seasonal flowers, berries and foliage, adding low, slow-burning outdoor candles when visitors are expected.