Master your mix

Nick's guide to matrix planting

-  Nick Bailey

Discover how to create dynamic, year-round meadow planting in your own garden with expert advice from Nick Bailey

The fashion for meadow-esque plantings with flowering perennials woven between grasses has been with us since the early nineties. But these apparently wild pieces of planting are actually carefully composed groups, grown through a grid or matrix of supporting species, often grasses. Once established these plant communities require less maintenance than traditional borders, while providing long displays and supporting wildlife.

Back when we had just four TV channels to pick from, I was a student studying Landscape Design. I chose to write my dissertation on an emerging idea known as Matrix Planting. Skip forward several decades and that once sparkly new idea has become the mainstay of planting design through much of Europe, North America and beyond. Despite its longevity it could not be more in tune with modern thinking about gardens. Matrix planting is all about gardening closer to nature with less intervention, greater wildlife support and zero chemical input. So how does it work and can it be refined for small to medium domestic gardens?