Jubilee planting at Haddo House

After some thought about how this theme could be achieved, I decided that above all the design should look good and be impactful, leading me to focus on how I could convey the theme with the use of colour. Words that began to spring to mind included the likes of ‘regal’ and ‘majesty’ so I set about looking at what potential colour scheme could work alongside our established perennials already present, including the likes of our popular Astilbe ‘Thunder and Lightning’, and Alstroemeria ‘Indian Summer’.

The first beds I began work on are the eight large beds in the shape of the letter L, as these would have the largest impact. I decided to tie these beds in closely with the long centre bed running in between them that already contained a strong yellow from the Rudbeckia laciniata ‘Goldstrum’. Red and yellow would make for a strong contrast to this while also conveying the idea of royalty. I settled on sticking to what has been a tradition and continued to use Dahlias in these beds, this time opting for Dahlia ‘Dalaya Aruna’. To break up the red this will be interspersed with white provided by Antirrhinum ‘F1 Sonnet white’. This will be surrounded by a border of golden French marigolds (Tagetes patula ‘Bonanza Gold’). The Rudbeckia would be surrounded by a crimson variety of the Antirrhinums already used to help tie the beds to each other. The final beds in this section that already contained Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’ will be planted with a border of Cinneraria ‘Silver Dust’ to further represent that it is the Platinum Jubilee.

The next major beds to consider were the four large wraparound beds, reinstated during the restoration in 2015. Again, these beds contained an already established perennial (Astilbe ‘Thunder and Lightning’) that would this time give a strong pink to work around. Interlocking triangles of blue and white would be planted around the outside with the blue coming from Lobelia ‘Crystal Palace’ forming the outer triangles and Cinneraria ‘Silver Dust’ forming the inner triangles. This would also give a gradual increase in height, culminating in the towering pink flowers of the Astilbe. Sitting between these beds is a rectangular bed that will contain a zig-zagging strip of Argyranthemum ‘Maderia Red’, surrounded by a mass of Begonia ‘F1 Nonstop Mocca White’ dotted with the already established Agapanthus.

The final beds were used to tie it all together. A mixture of various colours of Osteospermum ‘Akila’, ranging from white through pinks to yellow, were used to fill out the four central square beds surrounding the fountain, which are dominated by Alstroemeria ‘Indian Summer’ with a border of Helichrysum petiolare ‘Silver’.