Design for the Space You Actually Have

Courtyard gardens are one of the great pleasures of a British home: private, sheltered, and usable from early spring right through to autumn. They also come with their own set of growing conditions. Walls and fences create a rain shadow, so a narrow border can be bone dry ten centimetres down even after a wet week. Paving and brick store heat through the day and release it at night, nudging temperatures a degree or two above the surrounding streets. Pots dry out faster still. Get the planting right and the space looks after itself; get it wrong and you will spend every weekend trailing a watering can.

The answer is to design for the conditions you have rather than the ones you wish for. Three principles do most of the work: evergreen structure so the garden never looks bare, drought-tolerant planting so a fortnight away is not a disaster, and automated irrigation so the routine jobs happen without you.

Evergreen Bones That Earn Their Keep

A courtyard is viewed from the house all year, so roughly two-thirds of the planting should be evergreen. Choose plants that look good in January as well as July, and repeat a few of them to create rhythm rather than a jumble.

• Osmanthus burkwoodii — glossy leaves, white flowers in spring, clips neatly into a low hedge or a relaxed cloud-pruned shape.
• Sarcococca confusa — for shade; dark foliage and winter scent that carries across a small space.
• Trachelospermum jasminoides — an evergreen climber for a warm wall, with cream flowers in summer and mahogany foliage in winter.
• Fatsia japonica — bold, architectural leaves for a shady corner; one plant reads as a feature.
• Ilex crenata — a useful alternative to box where blight has been a problem; small leaves, tight growth, happy in a pot.
• Carex oshimensis 'Evergold' — a variegated sedge that brings movement and light without demanding much.

Plants for a Sun-Trap Border

A south-facing courtyard can be hot and bright, closer to a Mediterranean hillside than a Yorkshire garden. Fill it with grey foliage, silver leaves and aromatic herbs — the sorts of plants that look better, not worse, when you forget to water them.

• Lavender 'Hidcote' — compact, fragrant, and happiest in a raised bed or pot with sharp drainage.
• Rosemary — evergreen, edible, and genuinely drought-proof once established.
• Salvia nemorosa 'Caradonna' — deep violet spires from June, cut back for a second flush.
• Cistus — papery flowers in early summer; needs little more than sunshine and gravel.
• Thymus — creeping thymes to soften paving edges and scent the air.
• Hylotelephium 'Herbstfreude' — late-season flowerheads that stand through winter and feed the birds.
• Perovskia — hazy blue spires on silver stems; cut back hard in spring.

Plant in autumn or early spring, water generously for the first season, then let the roots fend for themselves. A thick mulch of gravel or bark keeps moisture in and weeds down.

Shade, Narrow Beds and Awkward Corners

North-facing courtyards and the strip of ground beneath a fence are often the hardest spots to fill. These plants cope with low light and root competition without sulking.

• Epimedium — delicate spring flowers above handsome semi-evergreen leaves.
• Dryopteris erythrosora — copper-red new fronds unfurling through summer.
• Heuchera — colour from foliage alone, useful for filling gaps in pots.
• Liriope muscari — grass-like leaves with violet spikes in late summer; tolerant of dry shade.
• Hydrangea petiolaris — a self-clinging climber for a north wall, if you have the space.

Compost, Containers and Mulch

In a courtyard, most planting ends up in pots and raised beds, so the growing medium matters more than it would in open ground. Use a loam-based compost for permanent shrubs and small trees — it holds water and nutrients far better than a light multipurpose mix, which collapses and dries out quickly. Add a handful of slow-release feed at planting time and top it up each spring.

Choose generous containers, as a large pot dries out far more slowly than a small one. Terracotta looks lovely but loses moisture through the walls; glazed or frost-proof composite pots hold water better. Raise them on feet so drainage holes never sit in a puddle, and group pots together — this shades the compost surface and creates its own humid microclimate. Finish every bed and pot with five centimetres of gravel or bark mulch, which can cut evaporation by around a third.

Irrigation That Replaces the Watering Can

Hand-watering is the job that quietly ruins courtyard gardening. A simple drip system on a battery timer solves it: run a supply line around the perimeter, fit drippers to each pot and bed, and set it for a few minutes morning and evening in summer. Connect it to a water butt where you can, and check emitters once a month — a blocked dripper is easy to miss.

• Group pots by thirst so one line can serve several without over-watering the rest.
• Water in the early morning to reduce evaporation and discourage slugs.
• Soak, don't sprinkle — a deep watering twice a week beats a daily flick of the hose.

With evergreen bones, plants suited to the light you have, and a timer doing the rounds, a courtyard can look after itself for a fortnight at a time. Feed in spring, mulch in autumn, prune the shrubs that need it in late winter — and spend your weekends sitting in it instead.