How to create a Nordic Style Garden on your own

Great land is at the heart of all good living. I view each project, each garden and each landscape as borrowed land. It’s rare and precious.
I value the roots of each place, by making careful plant choices that deliver beauty and biodiversity, resulting in a positive impact on the space. With spring arriving in the Nordics, works has started on a 3 acre land by Lake Mälaren, Sweden, were I plan for a cultivated garden, restored woodland, and natural meadows.

With lots of interest in Nordic Gardens, I have shared views about new gardens in the north with journalists recently such as Better Homes & Gardens, New Nordic Notes blog, Italian magazine Ville & Casali and Finnish magazine Terrassi. If someone is looking to create a Nordic style garden of their own, here are some ideas that might help.

• Select materials that resonate with the Nordics, such as wood and delicate plants; ferns, grasses and small, graceful perennials, shrubs and trees. Wood is a versatile material, light yet strong.
• Plan for seasonal interest including early spring bulbs and autumn coloured foliage, also the help wildlife for food and shelter.
• Simplicity and functionality. Create space with a purpose, where hard landscaping areas are not larger than needed, and value quality over quantity and excellence in execution, for gardens to last.
• Embrace light. Use light and neutral colours. Leave wood unpainted and choose pale colours of flowers.
• Invite the natural landscape. Large boulders, natural gravel or a meadow patch arranged to look natural, can enhance the genuine feeling and celebrate the natural landscape.