If you want the Chelsea look for your city garden but don't want to pay Chelsea prices, follow these ten top tips from the designer Cleve West, winner of a gold at Chelsea in 2006 for his Saga garden. He is hoping to repeat his success this year with his Bupa garden.

Clipped topiary “This is quite popular at Chelsea this year - it lends a bit of structure to a garden. It can be expensive if you want to create an instant look, but if you want to keep the cost down, buy smaller plants. Topiary is usually yew or box, but for the Bupa garden we are using clipped hornbeam.”

Plant a screen “If you don't see the garden all in one hit it adds a bit of mystery. Hedging would be my first choice, but just one big shrub or Pampas grass placed strategically can obscure views. I quite like using Miscanthus grasses, which you have to walk around. Stipa Gigantea is a popular grass that grows quickly to 5ft or 6ft; it will be flowering all over the place at Chelsea this year and is a ‘money in the bank' grass.”

Be generous with space “People are always a bit tight when it comes to making a patio. They make it a small space because they think it will cost less, but it always ends up looking a bit rubbish. So be as generous as you can.”

Keep it simple “Never use more than two or three materials or it starts to get a bit fussy and can make the space feel a bit cluttered. Keep the design simple.”

Turn your walls green “Green-up your walls either with a hedge or a trellis and climbing plants. It will make the space seem bigger.”

Add a water feature “Water is always a good element to have. It's good to look at and listen to, and for wildlife. If you don't have room for a fully blown pond, try water coming out of a spout in the wall into a trough - the simpler the better.”

Plant a sedum roof “Sedum does not need watering and grows easily in free-draining soil. It costs about £25-£30persqm.” He also suggests collecting roof rainwater in water butts.

Sculpture “The beauty of sculpture is that it can be as good or bad as you want it to be - it comes down to individual taste. Try to get to know the piece, not buy on impulse. Measure the space and the space around it, so that you have enough room to walk around it.”

Be bold Cleve's Bupa garden will feature a giant textured concrete ball, 7ft in diameter, set in a shallow pool. “Quite often people are timid, but a large object can work in a small space.”

Lighting Cleve, a big fan of natural light, advises care with artificial lighting. “I quite like subtle lighting, but you can easily overdo it if you're not careful. Cheap lighting often looks cheap and is best avoided. You pay for what you get, so if you are on a budget, lighting can blow it.”

Bonus tip: seating “Place seating where you are looking across the garden, over other people's gardens, not straight back to the house.”

Purists, of course, will have none of these tricks. The plantsman, Tom Hart Dyke, creator of the World Garden at Lullingstone Castle in Kent, believes that the plants alone should be the stars of the show. “I can't stand all this business with decking and pathways - I want hard-core plant action all the way. A path, yes, but only for access to all the wonderful plants.” His favoured garden makeover is simple in the extreme: “If your garden is a bit overgrown, just give it a haircut: mow the law, fork over the beds, sweep up the leaves, and see what the framework of the garden is.”

TOM'S TOP FIVE PLANTS FOR DRAMA:

Agave Americana “This is just brilliant: the spike of yellow flowers can reach 30ft.”

Prickly pear (Opuntia) “This plant has a very sexy look and makes great jam. The spines can stick in your skin for weeks. It reaches about 5ft.”

Yucca Rostrata “This is a relation of the Joshua tree, and is an awesome spikey plant that looks like it's had a bad punk haircut. It's called devil's dagger - it can cut straight though your finger - and grows up to 10ft.”

Aeonium arboreum “Schwarzkopf” “This spectacular bushy plant is called the ‘chocolate rose'. It goes black when the sun is strong, then back to green in winter. It grows to about 4ft.”

Echium Pininiana “This is an absolutely mad plant that has a massive flowerhead, up to 15ft tall, with up to 24 layers of rich blue flowers.”

Tom says that all his top five plants will thrive in London gardens and sheltered city gardens elsewhere in the South. They are available at Lullingstone Castle's nursery.

lullingstonecastle.co.uk , 01322 862114

Cleve West: 020-8977 3522, clevewest.com

Times recommends

• Here comes the glass sun – garden honours Beatle
• Gardening tips: 10 things to know about Horny Goat Weed or Epimedium
• Diarmuid Gavin shares tips on how make your garden fun and funky