How do you create a garden like this?

Well, I’m going to share everything. The planting (plant list at the very end). The pots and planters. Accessories and focal points. But first, let's talk planting stories! Or more importantly, how the planting is arranged in stories... and we're starting with the tallest! Trees!

Trees for height and structure

Every garden can benefit from trees. If I had a city balcony, I would still have a tree. If I had no outside space at all, I would have a 'bonsai' tree! I really love Acer palmatum 'dissectum', the Japanese Maple. But those filigree-leafed acers need a degree of shade that's entirely lacking in the Courtyard. They would literally scorch and die in this sun-baked corner. So, we need tough, drought tolerant trees, ideally evergreen, because we want year-round interest.

Trees provide both height and structure, both essential to this garden and arguably any garden, but especially small gardens. Without trees, your field of vision doesn't rise. You're always looking down and any bare expanse of wall or fence dominates the picture. Add height to the planting (could be trees or obelisks with climbers, etc.) and your perspective changes. You've moved from scanning for details low down, below knee height, to looking upwards and having to take a wider view, consequently the garden seems larger.

First up, the Olive, Olea europaea. The tallest tree in the Courtyard. There are three of them, including the one at the very front of the house which just sets the scene when you come through the gates. Olives are extremely tough. We know they can tolerate the searing heat and drought of the Mediterranean, but did you know they'll survive fire and ice, tolerating freezing temperatures down to -7℃ (20℉)? After all, it does snow in Greece! My olives are all grown as standards (clear trunk, tradition lollipop shape) and are still young and relatively open branched.

Olives do not like cold waterlogged soils. Only plant them in free draining soil or in planters with very gritty free draining compost. If you want the leaves to be on the green side, water weekly and add a monthly seaweed feed. They’re not hungry plants. Tough though! The ones you see here (below pic) had a fungal leaf infection and they defoliated. I cut them right back to the trunk, branches and all. They grew back just like new. Remarkable!

NOTE: Please ensure you buy olives from reputable suppliers. Xylella fastidiosa, is a particularly nasty disease and, thankfully, is still absent from the UK. It infects a range of plants including rosemary, lavender, stone fruit, and hebes:

"Until recently Xylella was absent from Europe but in 2013 the bacterium was identified as the cause of death of olive trees in southern Italy. There are now major outbreaks on ornamental plants in southern France (including Corsica), the Balearic Islands (Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca) and southern Spain and most recently in Portugal, in Lisbon and the Algarve." (RHS read more here)

Next layer down, we have the bushy evergreen Bay, Laurus nobilis. with large, deep glossy-green aromatic leaves (the ones you use in cooking). They contrast very nicely with the olive’s narrow silvery-green foliage. Ours have been grown with these striking double helix stems and they make a real architectural statement and point of interest.

Olives detest winter waterlogging, so good drainage is a must. They're also susceptible to leaf scorching in dry freezing winds, so a sheltered spot is preferred but not critical as any scorched leaves can be just snipped off. Weekly watering and a fortnightly or monthly seaweed feed will keep them in top shape. After a few years, it's a good idea to pot-on your containerised bays, or at least give them a root prune and replant with fresh invigorating compost.

Bay can be pruned very easily, either lightly to maintain the shape, or a really hard rejuvenating hard prune. Both options are best undertaken in late spring or early summer, so any new growth is fully hardened off by the first frosts. For smaller specimens like these, where you'll see them close up, use secateurs, not a hedge trimmer. Hedge trimmers will slice through leaves and they'll brown and look rather unsightly. Hard pruning should be phased over 2-3 years, removing only a third of the branches at any one time.

This year, my bay trees have been hammered by scale insect, so are looking a little yellow and they're overdue a prune, which is on next year's 'to do' list. Another pest is the Bay Tree Sucker (Trios alacris) which causes a rather gruesome looking blistered leaf roll. You’ll see a white fluffy wax and the leaves will be sticky. By far the easiest remedy is to just pluck them off, leaf and all, and add them to the compost. No need for drama or chemical warfare.

The next tree is the upright Eucalyptus gunnii ‘Silverana’. The newest addition here with beautiful glaucous foliage. We have two in the Courtyard and they frame the informal entrance into the table and chairs. Their open habit creates a relaxed curtain of glaucous foliage, working well as a discrete and unobtrusive screen.

Eucalyptus are famously drought tolerant in the wild, but there they can send down colossal tap roots in search of underground water reserves. Not so in a pot. Containerised eucalyptus will need regular watering, just like everything else. A deep drink, once per week seems adequate. Every April, I’ll prune the eucalyptus down to about 30cm (12in), promoting multiple stem regrowth and grow them more as a bushy shrub. Left to its own devices, these eucalyptus will grow straight up, several metres high, rapidly outgrowing the space and its pot.

Eye-catching herbaceous

The next story down is the herbaceous perennials, probably the showiest, attention-grabbing element to the display. They’re not all pure white. Many have a blush of pink or yellow and that is fine. When you stand back, observing the garden as a whole, these delicate tones deepen the range of whites and greens. Most of the selected perennials are frost hardy too and will happily overwinter right where they are. As a reminder, we’re in a USDA Zone 8b equivalent climate with maximum winter lows of -10℃ (14℉)

Arguably the most flamboyant is Agapanthus africanus ‘Albus'. Such glamorous plants! Beautiful. Expensive though and no way near as easy to find as the regular blue cultivars. It's very much a personal taste, but I prefer the pure white, as opposed to 'Twister' or 'Fireworks'. You can buy Agapanthus as bare roots plants, but you may have to wait two seasons or more for a decent bloom. It’s a good idea to feed these regularly throughout the growing season so they’re fully fuelled for next year's blooms. Deadhead by removing the flower stems right down at the crown. I’m cautious about saying these are frost hardy. The RHS rates them as H3 (hardy in coastal and relatively mild parts of the UK down to -5℃ or 23℉) and these will spend the winter in the cold frame or potting shed, just in case.

Gaura lindheimeri 'Summer Breeze’ (syn. Oenothera ) was grown from seed and very easy it was too. The lower leaves tend to go read under stress, which is a great indicator for watering needs. I love how graceful and airy they are, with their blooms dancing high above the foliage. Another one for full sun, but this does like moisture at the roots, but not overly nutritious. Too much goodness and they flop on lush stems. Again, like Agapanthus, it may need winter protection but they're tougher so will probably just be nudged against the house wall, under the eves, out of the winter rains.

Scabiosa ‘Flutter White’ is another great value plant, flowering its socks off from June right through to November, if you keep deadheading it. And that’s easy. Just snip faded blooms down to a the next set of leaves. Easy. Not fussy on soil, but keep it well drained. They will tolerate a little shade, but flower best in full sun. Definitely not a hungry plant, but as they’re in pots, they do get a little feed throughout out the summer. Fully hardy.

Lavandula angustifolia ‘Alba’ is the pure white form of English Lavender. It has wonderful fragrance from both flowers and foliage, which is why it's positioned either side of the front door, so you get a wonderfully uplifting whiff when you brush past. Like all Lavender, it needs full sun and sharp drainage. I make a particularly gritty compost for these. When flowering is fading, these are tidied up with a good trim to keep them bushy. If you leave English lavender to its own devices, it will grow woody and straggly.

Erigeron karvinskianus is used as underplanting for all the olives, bays, and roses. I just love it. It’s so relaxed and somehow gives the impression of age and heritage. It flowers practically all year in this part of the garden. Each spring it has a haircut to keep it compact. Then, in August, it's given another tidy, just to spur on a fresh flush of foliage and flowers. Not fussy on soil. Will grow in sun, part sun and tolerates shade too, but it flowers best in sun.

Gypsophila paniculata ‘Summer Sparkle’ creates the most beautiful tactile cushions of tiny starry white flowers. I’m not keen on the fragrance, but the aesthetics more than make up for it. In the ground, it’ll form a frothy mound up to 1m (3ft) wide. There are three young plants in each planter here and they will be split and potted individually next season. Fully hardy down to -20℃ (-4℉).

Artemisia ‘Coca Cola’ has fragrant foliage which, as the name suggests, smells like cola. Actually, I think they smell like fizzy cola bottles! Those of a certain age will remember them from the pocket-money spend up in the local Woolworths penny sweet pic ’n’ mix section. Ah, such a wave of nostalgia.

Calocephalus ‘Silver Macho’ in the white marble lotus bowls is like no plant I’ve ever seen in a garden centre. It looks almost otherworldly. Like coral. It’s just bizarre, but for some elusive reason they just work in these planters.

Achillea millefolium 'White Beauty', a spreading perennial umbellifer, adored by pollinators of all kind. This is hardy sunlover gradually fills the planter with fine leaves and flat white flowerheads.

Panicum virgatum 'Heavy Metal’, the only grass, just brings yet another varying shade of metallic blue/grey and a stark change in form. A deciduous grass, this reaches over 1m (3ft) in height and retains its form through the winter in an attractive bronze tone. Fully hardy and drought resistant, it seems perfectly happy in a pot.

If you look back, you’ll see we’ve created multiple stories from tree to bulb, with layers of planting, all bringing varying shades of green and white, all with noticeably different forms. Together they produce this maximalist effect, with interest and depth.