Plants in the ME + EM City Garden

“Its architectural form looks great year round in a warm spot. It offers structure and its deep green leaves contrast wonderfully with the soft pink clay plaster on the walls.”

A large evergreen shrub with handsome glossy leaves, which are brown-felted beneath. Flowers are hawthorn-like and scented. Fruit is apricot-yellow and edible but seldom ripening in most of UK.

“A quintessentially British plant, sweet peas bring early summer fragrance and charm, while reflecting ME+EM’s British heritage. Their cut flowers are lovely indoors too.”

Grow beautiful and flouncy annual sweet peas from seed each year for their fragrance and for cutting, climbing them over obelisks or twiggy supports in borders or in a cutting garden.

“These provide vertical structure, contrasting with the grasses, and their foliage is as beautiful as the flowers.”

Lupins produce bold, colourful spikes of pea-like flowers in early summer – from white to pinks, reds, yellows, blues and purples, and various combinations of these. These reach 90cm tall, rising above clumps of softly hairy green leaves divided into finger-like leaflets.

“Hardy and attractive, they work as cut flowers and are loved by pollinators.”

These easy-to-grow, summer-flowering perennials are valued in borders for their subtle, muted flower colours that combine easily with other showier plants. They mingle well with grasses, and make good underplanting for roses in cottage garden schemes.

“They’re low-maintenance, only needing a cut back in late winter or early spring, and their seeds are a favourite food for birds during autumn and winter when other sources are scarce.”

Ornamental grasses are versatile, hardy and spectacular, bringing movement, texture and drama to gardens of all styles, nearly all year round. They can be woven through borders, used as a focal point, scattered through gravel gardens and planted in containers.