Are you considering a new garden for your home? Are you talking to landscape designers or landscapers about what you envision your new garden could look like?
Wherever you are at in your new garden journey, you might be a little puzzled as to exactly what expectations you should have for when your new garden will reach maturity.
Over 30 years in landscape design has taught us that this is a very common issue that can lead to some disappointment when someone is shown their new, but not yet fully matured garden.
So we've written this article to help you understand the many factors that influence how quickly a garden grows to maturity. And also what choices you can make at the planting stage of your new garden to bring about a quicker result if you want one.
When you first imagine creating a new garden, you no doubt picture it in your mind as a fully developed, fully grown, mature garden. (And when your landscape designer designs your garden they will draw it just like that.)
But then, when your garden is actually landscaped, it is often planted with smaller, more immature plants, often because these versions are cheaper. Which means it is not likely to look as you expected when you first see it.
Gardens are a living thing. They take time to grow into themselves and to become everything you first imagined them to be.
The key factors that influence "How long does it take to establish a garden?" are as follows:
There are other factors to consider, but these are the major ones to keep in mind.
Answering the question 'how long do plants take to mature' is first answered by asking how mature the plant was when you bought it. The smaller the starting size, the longer it will take to grow to maturity, obviously.
Below is just one example of the considerable difference in size of two similar trees when they were purchased from a nursery. Of course, the huge difference in size also means a huge difference in cost.
The reason that landscapers tend to plant smaller versions is not only related to cost. Ideally plants are always better to be planted when they are younger and less mature to allow more natural root growth to occur in their final location.
However, if one of the goals of your new garden is to block out the view of your neighbours (or block them from viewing you) then you may have to opt for a more mature version of the plants you want so you don't have to wait years for the privacy you want to materialise.
Note: Plants in nurseries are often sold by pot size (ie 10cm, 25 cm, 50 cm, etc and/or height - 0.5m, 1.0-1.5 m etc)
Plants simply do not all grow at the same rate. Some are fast growers, some take years to add even a few inches.
For example, some people will choose to plant a Pittosporum hedge rather than a Portuguese Laurel hedge because it is way faster to grow. The drawback is that it also requires much more pruning to keep it to the size you want.
When you are selecting the plants for your garden, first consider the overall style of garden you are after, ie coastal, formal, etc. Then, consider how soon you want or need certain plants to mature to help you make the final selection of plants for your garden.
The size and growth rate of any significant tree in a new garden is an obvious point of consideration. People tend to not only want to know how fast a certain tree will grow, but also how big it will end up. This can be a huge factor in deciding the most suitable feature trees to include in a new garden and the role they will play - ornamental, privacy, etc
Not so obvious for consideration of how fast a garden will take to establish itself can be things like ground cover, as shown in the photo below.
In this particular situation, the client was a little disappointed with how her new garden looked, mostly because the design for the garden showed this area completely covered with green, ground cover. The reality is that the ground cover we recommended and she approved - Pratia penductula - will spread about 1 metre from every small green plant currently shown in the picture. So in a reasonable time, all the soil currently sitting between each plant will be completely covered in green.
Now of course, you can double or triple the amount of plantings to speed up the coverage, but it will cost more and perhaps waiting a year or two is worth your while.
Plants that are going to be mostly in shade all day will generally grow at a slower rate than those which get a lot of sun. So the same plant will grow at a different rate in each of these two locations.
The type of soil in your garden will also affect plant growth dramatically. Sandy soil does not hold water like other soils. So you need to be careful when selecting your plants to ensure they are suitable for this type of soil. Certain plants will wilt for lack of water when planted in sandy soils.
Clay soils on the other hand, tend to hold water much better than sandy soils. But this can then cause root rot. So again, you have to choose your plants carefully for this type of soil.
Of course, no matter what soil you have, the frequency and duration of watering will also heavily influence how fast a plant grows. Well-watered plants tend to grow faster and stronger, while dehydrated plants struggle.
A very common note you find on the rear of a plant label when visiting a nursery, may contain the words, "Well-drained soil." For many plants, this is the ideal soil for them to grow in. But it could equally say 'well watered soil' too!
So with all that said, how fast will your garden grow? - choose the right plant for the right conditions and that will help.
How far apart you space plants can also affect how quickly they will fill in a space.
A plant that can grow 1500mm wide may take 2-3 years to achieve that growth. If you want to cover the same area faster, the easy solution would be to add three of the same plant instead of just one. But not all plants will end up looking good using this approach. But if you used Rosemary for this example, you wouldn't notice three separate plants were used once they were all mature. So it can depend a lot on the variety of plant chosen.
The other thing to consider about shrubs and small trees is that they will take time to grow. While they are growing you will probably have large areas of mulch in between them to look at for quite a while. If you don't like this look in an immature garden, what you can do is plant out a fast-growing ground cover that will provide a "green carpet" between the plants. Eventually, the ground cover may be too heavily shaded by the now larger plants and shrubs and so end up dying. Or you can simply pull it out if you feel it's no longer needed.
Of course the season you plant your garden can also make a huge difference to how quickly it will mature.
Planting in Autumn is a very good time as the weather is still warm enough to stimulate growth, yet cool enough to avoid harsh sun killing fragile new plants.
If you plant as late as May however you are likely to see very little growth, while planting a garden during Winter is likely to lead to no growth at all.
Spring of course is a great growing season and you are likely to get the fastest growth across the greatest variety of plants at this time. You can plant in Summer too, but you must be sure to keep watering new young plants regularly to help them cope with the heat. If you do, you can also get great growth at this time.
The bottom line is that your garden is going to look a lot more mature 6 months after you planted in the Spring than 6 months after if you planted in May.
In summary, you can see how all these different aspects will affect the growth of your garden.
As an average, taking into account all factors, it will generally take between 2 - 3 years before the main shrubs, small trees, ground covers, lawns etc will start to look established and your garden will take on its real character.
Larger trees will of course take much longer. What you can do, if you are planning on having a feature tree or trees, is to choose larger, more mature versions of these to plant straight away. They will be more expensive but they can give your garden an immediate sense of 'maturity'.
If you don't, your garden is likely to have a more 'sparse' feeling for some time.
So, unless you purchase larger, more mature versions of trees, shrubs and plants, it is likely that your garden will feel a little sparse at first. But the good news is, if you have planted at a cold time of the year, as soon as the warmer weather arrives, you will start to see growth spurts in all your plants and this can be an exciting time. Because it heralds the promise of what your gorgeous new garden will eventually look like.
If you have any more specific questions on certain types of plants, soils, etc or any other general questions in regards to landscape design and landscaping, please feel free to contact us. We are more than happy to answer your queries via phone or email.
Contact us at our contact page.
Or if you would like to start a conversation with us about a potential new garden, just click here:
You might also find one of these other articles useful and informative:
What's the most important element in a new garden?