In the first of a series on garden design, designer Emma Bond teaches us how to fill those awkward gaps in the garden.

Whenever I plan a planting scheme for a garden, I always try to remember the little hidden places where plants can grow, in the gaps and cracks in walls and paving and steps, and various other places normally ignored or forgotten. When plants want to grow in unusual places in your garden it is a thing to be encouraged.

Tiny plants growing in gaps in paving can provide a welcome contrast to acres of stone by adding splashes of green and softening up hard edges and corners. These are all the better if they are self-seeders, sending their offspring plants to other corners of the garden, sometimes in surprising ways.

There are many plants which lend themselves well to this type of growing, not least Oxalis corniculata atropupurea or creeping wood sorrel, which self-seeds like mad and works very well in paving cracks. It goes a bit mad so worth keeping an eye out but with its purple leaves and bright yellow flowers it is a welcome nuisance!

A favourite of mine is the Mexican Daisy, Erigeron karvinskianus. This friendly little plant  looks like a common or garden daisy except that it is able to creep down the sides of stone walls and steps and tuck itself into crevices. It needs plenty of sun as well as good drainage in order to survive cold wet winters. Easily raised from seed, it can be mixed with a small amount of clay and pressed into chipped out mortar joints in walls or mixed with a little compost and scattered into the cracks between paving stones.

Consider taller softer plants such as Verbena bonariensis or Dierama pulcherrimum; also know as angel’s fishing rods. Both of these are beautifully soft and tall and won’t block the view, but will certainly add some unusual interest in paving gaps. Slightly smaller at 15cm is the lovely Sisyrinchium angustifolium or blue-eyed grass, which was born to grow in cracks in the paving. Not actually a grass at all but a primitive variety of Iris, the amazing blue flowers do not open wide until lunchtime.

The more imposing Campanula lactiflora or milky bellflower with it’s panicles of violet-blue bells in summer can also seed themselves anywhere they can get a hold. Pinching out the lead shoots early on in their growth to prevent them getting too leggy and tall can control them. They are so pretty that they are also worth the bother of a bit of staking and keeping an eye on!

Another perfect plant for walls and cracks is Sempervivum or house- leek. These are succulent alpine plants, which usually grow in the wild in mountainous regions. They need very little in the way of compost or soil but they do need good drainage, so be sure to plant these with a layer of grit on top of the soil as well as mixing in grit to the compost where they are being planted.

If a neat, tidy or regimented garden is not for you, and it’s certainly not my style of gardening, then take a look around your garden for small nooks to grow some of these lovely plants.

If you’re interested in Emma or her work, make sure you have a good look at the Bath Garden Design website.