The best flower borders in Britain, and how they work their magic

British gardeners can take pride in two of our greatest inventions: landscape parks and herbaceous borders. The landscape movement was a development of the old deer parks, but we owe the borders to our mild, damp climate and our love of flowers. The history of herbaceous borders goes back a long way. In the 18th century, Philip Miller clumped different plants together for ornamental effect at the Chelsea Physic Garden in London and, by 1800, our ancestors were making mixed borders of shrubs and hardy plants.

It was the writings of William Robinson and, especially, of Gertrude Jekyll, however, that turned herbaceous borders into essential features of any respectable country garden. Jekyll’s books Colour in the Flower Garden (1908) and Colour Schemes for the Flower Garden (1919), both of them published by COUNTRY LIFE, were extremely influential 100 years ago and remain both practical and inspirational today.

Jekyll was championed by Graham Stuart Thomas, the leading gardener of the second half of the 20th century. He articulated her principles in his books and applied them to the many gardens he designed for the National Trust. The Trust style of planting was from the start intended to be the exemplar of good taste, although the need for economy — maximum effect for minimum cost — meant that easy-to-grow groundcover plants were often chosen to simplify maintenance.

The classic herbaceous border offers a succession of flowers from June until the first frosts. Perfectionists plan their border month by month. It is possible to make a border that is all blue, pink and white in June, but a mass of hot reds, yellows and oranges in August. Most gardeners maximise colour, valuing it more than shape, form and texture. Other owners look for continuity and prefer to plant each section of a border so that its colours are consistent throughout the season. They seek out plants such as fuchsias and Geranium Rozanne that are always in flower. A typical scheme might run from cool colours to hot in the middle, then back to cool again at the far end. The ideal is a succession of harmonious groupings, each of them different, where shapes and colours combine to come together well. There is no short-age of choice for every conceivable situation.

Single-colour borders are not easy to sustain. Vita Sackville-West’s white garden at Sissinghurst in Kent has inspired thousands of imitations, but white flowers, together with silver and grey foliage, are better as foils to other colours.

Traditional herbaceous borders are dull in winter when all the plants have been cut back and the surface topped with compost or manure. The traditional way to put some life into them is to use clipped evergreens, especially topiary in box and yew. Sometimes yew hedges, not too tall, are planted to run from the back of the border right to the front, thereby restructuring the bed as a series of compartments. Evergreen flowering shrubs are also valued: mixed borders will have Daphne bholua at the back, choisyas and Euphorbia characias in the centre and hebes and lavender towards the front. The influence of designers such as Piet Oudolf in recent years has added some evergreen sedges and grasses. Jekyll herself incorporated ferns.

Some gardeners like to see flowers in every month of the year. It is easy to add plants that flower between November and March. Bergenias and Oriental hellebores are wonderful winter bloomers and their handsome leaves contribute to the composition after they have finished flowering. Spring bulbs, especially tulips and daffodils, can be chosen to flower successively over several months. Many gardeners also take inspiration from summer bedding. Gaps open up, for example, after the spring bulbs have flowered, and the wise gardener will fill them with bedding plants or annuals. It is important to sustain the display.

Biennials are also useful, especially early in the season. Foxgloves, Canterbury bells and sweet williams can then be succeeded by dahlias and chrysanthemums. These glorious late bloomers may need to be lifted and replanted every year, but they make such a show that most gardeners consider them essential constituents of their herbaceous plantings. The same is true of monocotyledons: irises, lilies, galtonias, gladioli, crocosmias and crinums will all add enormously to the display.

The best herbaceous borders are designed not only to show off their flower power, but also to create contrasts or harmonies of shape and colour. Some plants have always been incorporated because, although their flowers are insignificant, their foliage is a fine foil to others. Giant cardoons and Macleaya cordata are always impressive, whereas Alchemilla mollis, which was surprisingly little known until the 1950s when Graham Stuart Thomas championed it, is invaluable. Grey- and silver-leaved plants are useful not only for their own qualities, but also for blending different colours. It is hard to imagine a modern herbaceous border without silvery artemisias, Stachys lanata and Lychnis coronaria.

Most borders are planted against a wall or hedge. Climbing plants, such as roses on a wall, will deepen the display, whereas hedges of hornbeam and beech are especially beautiful when clematis and honeysuckle weave through them. Scarlet Tropaeolum speciosum threading its way through clipped yew hedges is almost a cliché of Scottish and Irish gardens. Remember, however, that hedging plants have roots that extend a long way into the border, which will affect the choice of plants. A path between the hedge and the back of the border is essential for access for hedge cutting and maintenance.

There is no consensus on whether the front of a border should be neatly defined, typically by low box hedges, or edged with an intermediate feature, such as paving slabs, that plants can flop over. Lavender is a good choice because it has every desirable quality — handsome grey leaves, colour and a scent to grab you as you walk along.

The way to learn about making borders is to visit good gardens and study what you see. Christopher Lloyd’s Long Border at Great Dixter in East Sussex has been famous for 50 years. The double border that runs up to Battleston Hill at RHS Wisley in Surrey is better than ever now and you should also see the newly reorganised Oudolf borders. For sheer grandeur, it is hard to beat the double borders at Newby Hall in North Yorkshire, which run due south for 200 yards from the house to the River Ure. Look back up, and see how perfectly they frame the gorgeous 18th-century mansion.

Some borders are designed to be seen from inside the house. The double borders at Bramdean House in Hampshire — England’s finest, pictured at the top of this page — are stupendous when seen from above, not least because they are planted as mirror images of each other. Because they are cut out of the lawns with no hedge to back them, Bramdean’s borders may also be studied not only from the central path, but from the outside.

Large beds devoted to a single genus can be spectacular, but are suitable only for very large gardens. Nevertheless, one can but goggle at the 100-yard border of peonies at Penshurst in Kent and the massive displays of asters at the Picton Garden attached to Old Court Nurseries in Herefordshire. There is much to be learned from walking slowly along these displays, noting the good plants and plantings that catch your eye. Indeed, that is the way to study all the best borders.

Many of the principles laid out by writers from Jekyll to Thomas can be applied to much smaller areas within the garden. Herbaceous borders or plantings do not have to be of any particular shape. The island beds promoted by Alan Bloom at Bressingham in Norfolk have for many years been a major source of ongoing education to gardeners in search of inspiration. Herbaceous borders are also a useful source of flowers and fragrance for the house, although the grandest gardens usually have dedicated cutting gardens, often in the walled garden alongside fruit and vegetables.

Planting a border requires considerable thought and preparation, but its subsequent maintenance is no less demanding. Constant weeding, splitting, mulching, deadheading and staking are needed to keep it in good condition. Borders are most rewarding creations, but expensive in time and money. Their origins, after all, date back to a time of industrial wealth, inexpensive skilled labour and the expectation that gardens should be maintained in great style.

One of the joys of gardening — but especially of borders — is that everything is always work in progress. Borders will never look the same as they do right now. Plants grow and flower at a slightly different season every year, so the combinations that entrance you today may not come together next year in quite the same way. Owners look at their borders and make alterations to the plantings all the time — moving, replanting, removing and adding.

What, then, makes a successful border? One answer is this — good plants, thoughtful planting, harmonies of colour and shape, and succession. And, above all, deep commitment on the part of the owners.

Bordering on brilliance: Where to see the best borders in Britain

• The Long Border at Great Dixter, East Sussex — 01797 253107; www.greatdixter.co.uk
• The peony border at Penshurst Place, Kent — 01892 870307; www.penshurstplace.com
• The massive displays of asters at the Picton Garden attached to Old Court Nurseries, Herefordshire — 01684 540416; www.oldcourtnurseries.co.uk
• The double border that runs up to Battleston Hill and the new Oudolf Landscape at RHS Wisley, Surrey — 01483 224234; www.rhs.org.uk
• The double borders at Newby Hall, North Yorkshire — 01423 322583; www.newbyhall.com
• The mirrored double borders at Bramdean House, Hampshire, which open for the National Garden Scheme on September 14 — www.ngs.org.uk
• The island beds planted by Alan Bloom at the Bressingham Gardens, Norfolk — 01379 686900; www.bressingham.co.uk

This feature originally appeared in the print edition of Country Life — here's how you can subscribe to Country Life magazine.