Why we plant gardens mature, dense and in layers

Most new gardens look new for years: small plants, bare soil, a promise. We work the other way round. An Âme garden is planted mature, dense and in layers, so it feels lived in from the first season and, within a year, as if it had always been there.

What does planting mature mean?

It means starting with plants that already have their character: tree ferns with real trunks, trees with a canopy, shrubs that already flower. Specimen trees sometimes arrive by crane. It costs more on planting day, and it gives you back years.

Why plant so close together?

Because nature does. Plants set close shade the soil, hold moisture and protect each other from wind and sun. Weeds have no room. And the eye reads density as abundance: a garden where you cannot see the ground feels generous and old.

What are the layers?

Think of a forest. A canopy of trees overhead, tree ferns and large leaves at eye level, then shrubs, perennials and ground cover, with orchids and climbers on the trunks. Each layer lives in the light the one above leaves for it. In a fern forest that means tree ferns, philodendrons and orchids under the trees; in a mountain garden, proteas, succulents and kangaroo paws between dry stone walls.

How long until it looks finished?

On planting day the garden is already dense. After a few weeks it looks lived in: plants have turned to the light and filled the gaps. After one year it looks as if it was always there. The gardens page shows the four worlds we plant most, from the fern forest to the cottage border, and the gallery follows them through the seasons.