If you are planning on installing a gazebo in your garden, you may dream that it will sit at the heart of a perfect garden, nestled amid the flowers and foliage and looking as though it has always been there, or has grown organically from the surroundings. But in order to create that picture-perfect scene, you need to think about how to plant around a gazebo. Getting the design right will make or break your project. In this article, we will share some planting tips to help you create a stunning planting scheme around your garden gazebo. A planting scheme that will serve to enhance the beauty of the timber frame, rather than detracting from it. 

Think About Sunlight and Shade

One of the most important things to think about when creating your perfect planting scheme around a gazebo is the environmental conditions the gazebo will create. Most crucially, think about how and where the shade will be cast throughout each day and throughout the year. 

The perfect planting scheme will usually surround your gazebo at almost 360 degrees. But it is important to remember that the shaded area to the north and east of the structure will require different, more shade-tolerant plants. While the areas facing south, and west will get a lot more sun and be perfect for sun-loving plants. 

Think About Soil Type and Conditions Where You Live

Of course, when choosing the right plants to place around your gazebo, you also need to think about the soil type and conditions where you live. Choosing the right plants for the right places involves considering soil type – is it clay, silt, sand, chalk or loam? Is the soil moisture-retentive or free-draining? Is it acid, neutral or alkaline in nature? 

Thinking about the soil as well as sunlight, shade and other environmental conditions will help you narrow down your plant choices and make the right selections for your site. 

Consider Plants For Year-Round Visual Appeal

Once you have a better idea of which plants will thrive in the environment around your gazebo, you need to think about how you can create a scheme that looks as beautiful as possible. Make sure you select plants that provide visual appeal in every season, including plenty of flowering plants, so you have blooms open for as much of the year as possible.

Remember, creating biodiverse planting schemes with plenty of flowering plants means that you will also attract plenty of pollinators and other beneficial insects. So you can make sure your gazebo lies at the heart of an eco-friendly, wildlife-friendly garden. 

Layer Planting and Utilise Climbers To Blend the Gazebo With its Surroundings

When it comes to creating a planting scheme around your gazebo, your goal should be to find ways to blend the structure with its surroundings. Using layered planting schemes, with trees and shrubs, and plenty of other perennial plants can help create organic forms so the man-made structure melds into the backdrop. 

Be sure to use climbers too, so that the plants not only surround the gazebo but also climb onto and over it. This will also be crucial in making sure the gazebo looks and feels perfectly at home. 

Create a Planting Scheme for All the Senses

Finally, remember, visual appeal is not the only thing to consider. A gazebo can be a wonderful place to spend time. And you can enhance the appeal not only through an aesthetically appealing visual design but also by creating a sensory garden that engages all the senses.

Think about how you can create a soundscape with rustling leaves. Consider how fragrant plants can fill the air with their scent as you enjoy the gazebo throughout the seasons. And perhaps even think about how tactile foliage can engage the sense of touch and help you to feel calm and relaxed in your outside living area.

Think about these planting and design tips when creating your planting around your new gazebo, and though there are also other things to consider, you should not go too far wrong.