Liz's Garden

Liz wanted a contemporary garden with fake lawn and raised beds, yet at the same time it needed to be low maintenance and accommodate four sporty kids - so the planting needed to be  robust enough to cope with bouncing balls.

Challenges

The garden was long and thin with a Magnolia grandiflora at the far end and a large Eucalyptus tree near the house, both which created large areas of shade and constantly shed leaves.

There was a high brick wall at the far left end of the garden - the back of an old garage - over which sprawled an elderly and unruly grape vine.

Solutions

Back garden

I pruned and trained the grape vine onto a wire framework attached to the old brick wall. I pruned the Magnolia to improve it's shape and removed some of it's lower branches, and I heavily pruned the Eucalyptus.

The new design layout included a large decking area next to the house for outdoor dining. It was raised to be level with the floor of the house and gently curved as it stepped down around the Eucalyptus trunk.

At the far left corner of the garden (where the sun caught at the end of the day) I designed a small slate patio with a lean-to pergola to create a private area in which to relax and to enjoy looking back at the garden.

I designed a children's playhouse in the far right corner of the garden, clad in lateral trellis to match the fence and disguising a small storage shed.

The raised garden beds were curved to meander along the length of the garden and lead you between the two seating areas. By using white render on the walls of the beds and a capping of London Stock bricks I linked the old garage wall with the walls of the house.

The fences were clad in lateral trellis to create a contemporary feel, and a fake lawn now provides all year round use.

Front garden

The original front wall was cut back to allow off-street parking. The same wall was also lowered and iron railings added. A small raised bed was built behind the wall and planted up with a clipped Ceanothus hedge to screen the bike shed. I designed a brick bike shed with sedum roof and lateral trellis doors in keeping with the lateral trellis used on the side gate and back garden fences.

I designed in a Victorian tile path leading from the pavement to the front door to match the interior hallway tiles. The rest of the space was laid with black limestone.

To soften the hard landscaping a small Box hedge was planted to separate the path from the parking space and a small bed by the house was planted with lavender, tulips and alliums. The downpipe from the porch roof gutter was directed into the bed to naturally irrigate it with rainwater.