When planning your garden, borders or pots, it’s important to think about your planting choices carefully. If you only grow plants that are the same size or shape, you might find that your borders lack focus and appear chaotic. One solution is to introduce architectural plants to your garden, you may be surprised at what a difference they can make. Pick plants with bold foliage, striking bark and plants that are big enough to create a focal point in your space. If you’re growing in a smaller garden, or in pots, architectural plants can still be used to add height and drama, in fact in a small garden they can be even more impactful.
Here are some of our favourite plants to add architectural interest to your outdoor space.
Stipa tenuissima
Best for: full sun
Grasses work really well as architectural plants, dotted through a border or as part of a pot display. Stipa tenuissima is best suited to smaller borders, reaching up to 60cm. But with its thread-like stems forming a strong horizontal shape and, in summer, masses of elegant pale feathery seed-heads above the foliage, this grass can pack a punch.
Yucca elata
Best for: full sun
The spectacular evergreen foliage of Yucca elata makes an eye-catching addition to borders. It’s spiky, silvery foliage will work really well in a colourful, sunny bed or a gravel garden, adding an architectural focus.
Find out more about growing yucca.
Cordyline australis ‘Red Star’
Best for: growing in containers
Cordyline australis ‘Red Star’ is a great choice for adding an architectural statement. It bears spiky, long, thin, bronze-red leaves leaves, and would be well suited to a sunny border or is also ideal for growing in pots. Mature plants produce branches of sweet-smelling, ivory-white flowers in the summer and berries in autumn.
Dicksonia antarctica
Best for: shade
For a dramatic statement in your garden, a tree fern is an excellent choice. Dicksonia antarctica is one of the hardier options, just requiring protection to the crown in winter. It has a thick mass of roots that form the trunk, from which large, structural fronds will appear.
Acanthus mollis
Best for: partial shade
With evergreen architectural foliage and tall flower spikes in summer, acanthus can make a bold addition to your borders. Acanthus mollis has large, glossy, deeply lobed leaves and tall flower spikes covered in white flowers in the summer. Grow at the back of a herbaceous border to create a focal point.
Euonymus europaeus
Best for: autumn colour
This large shrub produces dense hard wood that has traditionally been used for making spindles, hence its common name, the spindle tree. Euonymus europaeus is at its most striking in autumn, when the foliage turns a dramatic shade of red, and produces orange-pink winged fruit which stay on the tree after the leaves have fallen. It works particularly well as a focal point in a winter border.
Eryngium x zabelii ‘Jos Eijking’
Best for: dry borders or gravel gardens
For a striking, architectural addition to dry, sunny borders and gravel gardens, eryngiums make a fantastic choice. Eryngium x zabelii ‘Jos Eijking’ is a hybrid sea holly with architectural, blue, long-lasting flowers.
Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’
Best for: winter interest
Dogwoods inject a burst of colour and structure to the winter garden, with their colourful, leafless stems. Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’ works really well when planted with evergreen shrubs, contrasting with its dark red stems. In spring and summer it has greyish green, white-margined leaves and creamy-white flowers, with white berries appearing in the autumn. For the brightest winter bark, grow in full sun.
Phormium tenax ‘Joker’
Best for: growing in containers
Phormiums are popular choices to add a focal point to a planting scheme, they have elegant long leaves that are evergreen so provide interest all year round. Phormium tenax ‘Joker’ has striking blades of dark green foliage edged in pink, and will work will as a feature in a container or within a border.
