Borders Ready-made planting schemes
Priced Per linear metre — 1m to 5m
Anchored by Clipped evergreen structure
From £275 per metre
Border N° 01 — Garden Borders By The Metre
Ready-made border planting · sold by the linear metre
Whole borders. Sold by the metre.
A designed planting scheme, measured out in metres and delivered ready to put in the ground — eight to ten plants per metre in a band 1m long by 0.6m deep, laid out to a plan you don't have to draw. Every scheme is anchored by clipped evergreen structure, which is the part most ready-made borders leave out and the reason ours still read in January.
Border schemes from £275 per metre · delivered UK-wide
How it worksA border is a plan,not a plant list.
The reason most garden borders disappoint isn't the plants — it's that they were bought one at a time, in ones and threes, without a scheme holding them together. Buying by the metre fixes that: you measure the run, choose a designed palette, and take delivery of the whole thing at once, already worked out. Each metre here is a module — 1m long, 0.6m deep, 8–10 plants — and every module carries a clipped evergreen anchor, which is the part that keeps the border reading when the perennials go. The card below is the format; everything in the grid above is a version of it.
Three steps.One finished border.
One pinned frame. Scroll.
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Measure your run
Take a tape along the bed and read the length, not the area — borders here are priced per linear metre, ordered in whole metres from one to five per scheme. Round up rather than down; a border that stops short of the corner is the one mistake you can't plant your way out of. Depth is fixed at 0.6m per module, so a deeper bed simply takes a second row behind, and a shallower one takes the module tight to the front edge.
Pick your palette
Each scheme is a finished colour argument, not a mixed bag. Formal and clipped is The Formal Edge — lavender, salvia and allium round an Ilex ball, from £275 a metre. Soft and romantic is The Cottage Drift at £275 a metre, flowering May to November. Luminous white for evening gardens is The White Garden from £330 a metre; scent along a path is The Fragrant Path at £520 a metre, built round an aromatic bay lollipop.
Planting day
Everything arrives together with a layout plan. Set the evergreen anchor first — it fixes the rhythm of the whole run — then place the supporting plants to the plan while they're still in their pots, stand back, adjust, and only then start digging. A metre takes most people under an hour. The full method, including soil prep and depth, is in our planting guide.
Six borders.Every aspect covered.
Drag through the shortlist — per-metre prices including VAT.
The formal one
Lavender, salvia and allium around a clipped Ilex ball.
£275 per metre · 5m £1,375
The soft one
Geranium, alchemilla and nepeta — flowers May to November.
£275 per metre · 5m £1,375
For shade
Astilbe, brunnera, fern and hellebore under a yew ball.
£300 per metre · 5m £1,500
Late colour
Crocosmia, rudbeckia and miscanthus — peaks August to October.
£295 per metre · 5m £1,425
Dry & sunny
Festuca, agapanthus and perovskia — drought-tolerant, cool-toned.
From £275 per metre · spiral £360
Winter
Hellebore, cyclamen and scented sarcococca — peaks November to March.
£400 per metre · 5m £2,000
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Prefer movement and texture to flower colour? The Naturalistic Grass runs prairie-style from £295 a metre. For structure without the border, the architectural bundles solve the same problem in specimens.
Getting the border right.Four rules.
Everything that separates a border that fills out from one that sulks.
Buy the length, respect the depth
The module is 0.6m deep for a reason: that's the band where a single row of perennials reads as a border rather than a ribbon. Beds shallower than half a metre are edging, not borders — and beds deeper than a metre want two modules front-to-back, offset, so nothing hides behind anything.
Prepare once, properly
Clear the perennial weeds first — every one you leave will out-compete new planting for two seasons. Then fork over the full 0.6m band, not just the planting holes, and work in compost across the whole run. This is the hour that decides the next decade, and it's the step people skip.
Water like it's year one, because it is
New borders fail in their first dry spell, not their first winter. Soak deeply once or twice a week through the first summer rather than sprinkling daily — deep water drives roots down, light water keeps them at the surface where they cook. From the second year, most of these schemes look after themselves.
One cut-back, one or two trims
Late winter: cut the perennials and grasses to the ground in one pass. Then one or two short trims a year keep the evergreen anchors crisp — that's the entire maintenance calendar. If you want to add more structure later, the anchors all come as standalone specimens in the topiary collection.
Judge a borderin January.
Every border looks good in July. The test is the last week of January, when the perennials have been cut to the ground and the grasses are stubble — and that is exactly the moment a roll-out or mat-style ready border has nothing left to show. Ours keeps a clipped evergreen in every single metre: a yew ball, an Ilex ball or cube, a bay, photinia or variegated holly lollipop. Five metres means five points of green architecture still standing in midwinter, holding the shape of the bed until the planting comes back. That is the whole argument for buying a border with bones, and it's why The Winter Structure scheme peaks in the months everything else has given up.
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Borders by the metre.Quick answers.
The questions buyers actually ask, answered by the growers.
How does buying a garden border by the metre work?
You measure the length of your bed, choose a designed scheme, and order the number of whole metres you need — one to five per scheme. Each metre is a module 1m long and 0.6m deep containing 8–10 plants: one clipped evergreen anchor plus seven to nine supporting perennials, grasses and bulbs, with a layout plan. Prices run from £275 per metre for The Formal Edge and The Cottage Drift up to £520 per metre for The Fragrant Path, all including VAT.
What actually arrives when I order a metre of border?
All the plants for that metre, in pots, ready to go in the ground, plus the planting plan showing where each one sits. A metre of The Cottage Drift, for example, is ten plants: one Ilex crenata ball at 30–40cm and nine perennials — geranium 'Rozanne', alchemilla, nepeta 'Walker's Low' and penstemon 'Garnet'. Order three metres and you get three of everything, so the scheme repeats down the run exactly as designed.
How do I measure my border before ordering?
Measure the length of the bed in metres and round up to the nearest whole metre — that's the only number the price depends on. Depth is fixed at 0.6m per module: if your bed is deeper than about a metre, order two modules front-to-back and offset them; if it's shallower than half a metre it's really edging, and a run of clipped balls from the topiary collection will suit it better than a border scheme.
Which schemes work in shade, and which need full sun?
For shade, The Shaded Woodland at £300 per metre is the answer — astilbe, brunnera 'Jack Frost', male fern and hellebore under an English yew ball, all of which thrive in partial to full shade. For hot, dry, sunny beds take The Silver & Blue from £275 per metre, built for drought tolerance, or The Autumn Gold at £295 per metre for late-season colour in full sun.
Do I need help planting it, or can I do it myself?
This is a confident DIY job — the design work is already done, which is the part that usually needs a professional. Clear the bed, fork over the full 0.6m band with compost, set the evergreen anchor first, then place everything else to the plan before you dig. Most people plant a metre in under an hour. Step-by-step instructions are in our planting guide, and Lifetime Care Support means a photo gets you grower answers whenever you want them.
How is it delivered, and what's guaranteed?
Kerbside on a pallet, UK-wide, in 14–21 working days, with the driver calling about an hour ahead so you can be there. Every order is covered by the 7-day Matching Guarantee, the 6-month Thrive Guarantee — replacement at 50% of the single-plant price if a plant fails despite reasonable care — and Lifetime Care Support. Full terms at delivery & returns.
Designed once.Delivered by the metre.
Ten schemes, each one worked out to the plant — so the only decision left to you is how long the bed is.
A clipped evergreen anchor per module — the border still reads in January.
7-day Matching Guarantee, then the 6-month Thrive Guarantee through establishment.
Lifetime Care Support — a photo gets grower answers for as long as you own the plants.
