Overgrown garden design and ideas
Overgrown garden design means deciding what to keep before you clear anything: the trees, shrubs and old paths worth saving, then a new layout and planting round them, so the garden comes back planned rather than bare.
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Long grass and brambles seen from a kitchen window, turned into a gravel path through pink planting
Get this garden →Real overgrown garden ideas
Each overgrown garden transformation here is a real garden redesigned with the app from a photo taken as it was, long grass, brambles and all. Tap Before to see how each started, or Get this garden to try the look on yours.
Overgrown lawn ideas
Lawns lost under long grass, brambles and weeds, taken back to a mown lawn, a path or gravel through borders. 5 gardens
Long grass and brambles seen from a kitchen window, turned into a gravel path through pink planting
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Long grass between overgrown borders turned into a mown lawn with deep flower borders
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A neat lawn edged with a stone lined border of geraniums and lupins
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Stepping stones through low silver plants and grasses beside a timber house
Get this garden →Overgrown border ideas
Overgrown borders and corners cleared and replanted with grasses, salvias, roses and shade plants. 5 gardens
Stepping stones through grasses
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A tangled shady garden seen from upstairs, replanted with hostas, ferns and hydrangeas round a curved lawn
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A lawn border, redesigned whole
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A corner bed of salvias, grasses and heucheras, with a red trumpet vine on the fence
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A dug bed beside a brick path packed with salvias, roses and lady's mantle
Get this garden →Overgrown garden paths
Paths cut back through the tangle, in gravel or stone, between foxgloves, roses and delphiniums. 4 gardens
Gravel path past an olive and a terracotta urn
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Narrow path through foxgloves
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Stone path through roses and delphiniums
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Bare ground under trees turned into a gravel path past foxgloves
Get this garden →How to deal with an overgrown garden
What to do with an overgrown garden, step by step: decide what stays, clear the rest, then plant.
Decide what to keep first
Before you cut anything, walk round and mark what is worth keeping: a good tree, a shrub in the right place, an old path or edging under the weeds. An overgrown garden often hides a garden underneath, and a mature tree or shrub takes years to replace.
Clear in stages
Cut back the brambles and long grass first so you can see the shape of the ground, then dig the roots out of the places where the borders will go. Ivy over the ground can be rolled up like a carpet. Before cutting hedges or big shrubs between March and August, check them for nesting birds.
An overgrown lawn
Bring long grass down in stages: a first cut with a strimmer or the mower on its highest setting, then lower it gradually over the following weeks. Or keep the best part as lawn and turn the rest into borders and a path, as in the lawns above.
Plan the new layout
With the ground clear, lay out the path, the seat and the borders round what you kept. A path through planting to a seat at the far end gives an overgrown plot a shape again, and a crisp edge to every bed makes it look cared for while the plants fill in.
See it on your own garden first
Garden Design App designs your garden from a photo, even before you clear it. It reads a picture of your garden as it is, keeps the house, the fences and the trees exactly where they are, and redesigns the rest with plants you could genuinely grow.
From an idea to a plan you can plant
When one of the designs clicks, the Pro and Max plans turn it into a planting plan: every plant named, how big each grows and where each goes, with a month by month flowering calendar so the garden has something in flower from spring to autumn.
12 plants for an overgrown garden
Plants that fill a newly cleared border and cover bare soil through the summer.
- Hardy geraniums
- Catmint
- Lady's mantle
- Astrantia
- Japanese anemones
- Foxgloves
- Salvia
- Lamb's ears
- Persicaria
- Hydrangeas
- Lavender
- Verbena bonariensis
More overgrown garden ideas
Long grass and a hosepipe in a shaded town garden become a winding stone path through grasses and foxgloves in our overgrown garden before and after.
Or let some of the long grass stay: our wildflower garden ideas turn part of a lawn into a meadow with a mown path.
Plants spilling over a stone path on purpose is the look of our cottage garden ideas.
Overgrown garden design questions
What should I do with an overgrown garden?
Decide what to keep, then clear the rest in stages: long grass and brambles first, then the roots from where the borders will go. Then lay out a path, a seat and borders round what you kept, and plant.
How can I tidy up an overgrown garden?
Start by the house and work outwards: cut back, clear, then edge the lawn and the beds, finishing each area before the next. A crisp edge to a lawn or a path makes a garden look cared for long before the planting fills in.
Can I cut back hedges and shrubs at any time?
Brambles and long grass, yes. For hedges and big shrubs, check for nesting birds first: in the UK it is against the law to damage or destroy an active nest, and most birds nest between March and August.
Is an overgrown look a style?
It can be. A beautiful overgrown garden, loose and full, with plants spilling over the paths and seeding about, is a style, and very different from a neglected one. The difference is a clear path, a crisp edge and plants chosen to grow together.
Can I see a design for my garden before I clear it?
Yes. Add a photo of your garden as it is, choose a style, and see it redesigned in about a minute. Your house, fences and trees stay, so you know what you are clearing for.
Are the plants real, and can I buy them?
Yes. With the Pro and Max plans every design names its plants: garden centre favourites and RHS Award of Garden Merit winners, chosen by a professional gardener, with how big each grows and where each goes.
Is it free?
Your first 3 designs are free, with no card needed. The Pro plan is £29 and the Max plan is £49, paid once, with nothing to cancel.
Can I try more than one overgrown garden idea?
Yes. Make different designs and compare them on your own garden. Your first 3 are free, and Pro, one payment of £29, gives you 20 designs over 14 days, two at a time, so you can see several looks side by side.
Why does my redesign look like high summer?
We show your garden at its peak, in full flower, so you can see how full it can look. It is an artist's impression: your real garden changes through the seasons. Every paid design comes with a flowering calendar, so you know what flowers each month, and evergreen shapes help it look good in winter.
Find the garden under the weeds.
Try any of these ideas on your own overgrown garden in about a minute, before you clear a thing. Your first 3 designs are free.
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