Get the look: The Gardens of Versailles

Click on photo to download larger version; illustration by Frank Del Vecchio

Our version Our backyard garden, eight by 11 metres, uses Versailles planter boxes to provide structure and frame the entrance; each contains a clipped pyramidal ‘Capitata’ Japanese yew. Medium-tall ‘Holmstrup’ eastern white cedar hedges, meanwhile, follow long gravel pathways leading to focal points of Summer Sprite littleleaf linden trees. A central raised bed (made out of a stone curb) acts as a false parterre, and is framed with patterned ironwork at the corners. The bed contains brilliant red ‘Cuthbert Grant’ roses and a black iron fountain.

Plant picks

‘Capitata’ Japanese yew (Taxus cuspidata ‘Capitata’)
Height x width: 2.4 m x 2 m, full sun to part shade
Zone 5

Summer Sprite littleleaf linden (Tilia cordata ‘Halka’)
Height x width: 7 mx 3 m, full sun
Zone 3

‘Cuthbert Grant’ Parkland Series rose (Rosa ‘Cuthbert Grant’)
Height x width: 1 m x 1m, full sun
Zone 3

‘Holmstrup’ eastern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis ‘Holmstrup’)
Height x width: 2.5 m x 1 m, full sun to part shade
Zone 3

Plant picks photographers, from top: Topjabot, JoJan, Vaikunda Raja, Spedona

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