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RHS Chelsea Flower Show

May 21–25th

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The Laurent-Perrier Bicentenary Garden

Arne Maynard passes on some brilliant tips on how to get the look of the Laurent-Perrier garden in your own

“When I first work for a client the first thing I do is plant lots of hazel, it’s so useful”

  • Cobbled path

    Create a cobbled path

    Cobbles add texture and depth to surfaces and with patience it's fairly easy to replicate at home. It’s an artisan craft that’s found throughout the country in walls and surfaces. The pebbles are laid into a 1:1 dry mix of sand and cement. They are then carefully wetted so that the mix sets. Once set, another 1:1 mix is brushed in and the wetting process repeated. Finally you finish it off with a neat cement mix as a grout, also laid dry and wetted afterwards.

  • Briza media 'Golden Bee'

    Freshen and deformalise

    I’ve included Briza media ‘Golden Bee’, an acid yellow-coloured quaking grass, in the borders. It provides movement as well as softness, which contrasts well with the more architectural elements like the topiary, dressing them down and deformalising everything a bit.

  • Centranthus lecoquii

    Give your borders an undercoat of colour

    Centranthus lecoqii is my plant of choice to pull the different planting elements of the garden together. This is a mauve valerian, which isn’t as invasive as C. ruber as it tends not to seed around. I call it the undercoat.

  • Copper beach pleached hedging

    Make a hedge in the air

    The copper beech pleached hedging makes a big statement. These are trained onto flat bamboo frames and are quite expensive, but a cheaper route would be to buy a 1.8m or 2m clear stem standard, with a good well-branched head. Beech, hornbeam and lime all work well. The RHS website has more information on how to make a pleached hedge.

  • Rose domes

    Show off your roses

    For the rose domes we cut still pliant hazel stems in February, and stick them in the ground. The stems are then bent over and tied in in turn, along with all the smaller branches. Shrub roses such as Rosa 'The Generous Gardener' or R. 'William Lobb' can be trained around them and they will flower right along the stems rather than just at the top. The roses need to be grown straight upwards for around two years first. I use a tall pyramid frame to do this.

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