Create a Mediterranean style garden

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Bring the Mediterranean Home: Your Guide to a Resilient and Relaxing Garden

Dreaming of the sun-drenched Mediterranean, with its fragrant herbs, sparkling seas, and leisurely lunches? What if you could capture that blissful holiday feeling and bring it right into your own garden? More and more UK gardeners are discovering the joy and practicality of creating a Mediterranean-inspired oasis, and it’s not just about aesthetics – it’s a smart choice for our changing climate.

These stunning gardens offer a full sensory experience with aromatic herbs like lavender and rosemary and vibrant colours of terracotta and silver foliage. Add the soothing sound of trickling water and you now have an “outdoor living room” that feels like a permanent holiday. Beyond their undeniable charm, Mediterranean plants are incredibly resilient. Naturally adapted to arid conditions and poor, stony soils, they develop deep root systems that seek out water, making them ideal as the UK experiences hotter, drier summers. Once established, they require minimal watering, perfect for navigating hosepipe bans and conserving water.

You might be surprised to learn that many Mediterranean favourites, including certain olives, lavenders, rosemary, and some palms, are remarkably hardy and can thrive through UK winters, especially in well-drained soil and sheltered spots. Plus, planting them in a growing medium of sands or aggregates helps deter common UK weeds, which prefer richer soils, making maintenance a breeze.

Essentially, a Mediterranean garden offers a beautiful, sustainable, and increasingly practical solution for creating an inviting outdoor space that not only survives but thrives in a changing climate. No matter your garden’s size or shape, these tips will help you cultivate your own slice of Mediterranean paradise.

Ficus carica (Fig tree)

Design and Landscaping

  • Outdoor living, seating & cooking areas – this is an essential part of any Mediterranean garden
  • Lighting – people like to sit outside later in the Med, in our climate consider installing a fire pit or working outdoor fireplace
  • Architectural planting such as olive trees and palms for instant Riviera glamour
  • Colourful paving, earthy colours
  • Create areas to provide shade
  • Formal water features
  • Sculpture – pots, urns, classical statues
  • Frame any views you have
  • White or terracotta rendered feature walls
  • Gravel planting

Which plants to use?

To create this look you need plants that capture the spirit of the Med rather than trying to replicate exactly what you have experience on holiday <more on which plants to choose>

Our top tips picks are:

Mediterranean flowering evergreen shrub Pittosporum tobira

Each one of our Olive trees is unique, We personally select them from Italy for instant impact and effect.  We have olive trees in all sizes, perfect for creating a Mediterranean style courtyard or patio plus a range of lavender, rosemary, thyme, sage and other sun lovers to complete the theme.

Olive trees at our supplier in Italy

We have been going to Italy since 2002 to select the best plants for our nursery stock and for individual client projects. Members of the Nursery and Creative Landscape teams go out for three days in the summer and one in the winter. We have a long standing relationship with our Italian growers based on trust and quality. This allows us to work closely with them, ensuring we can deliver the quality and range we know our customers love and expect from us <find out more>

Planting in a low maintenance, gravel garden

If you are looking for planting ideas, garden advice or you are considering having a garden design, then a Consultancy Visit from one of our experienced horticulturalists or garden designers can really help. Meeting with you ‘on site’ and experiencing the garden first hand enables us to provide much more specific advice.

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