This small garden was in serious need of redesign. The owners felt that the external space to their property needed to reflect their new interior design which was calm and understated. They were looking for a contemporary garden design.
Caroline Garland, of Caroline Garland Garden Design , one of the leading garden designers of South London, was invited to come up with some simple and unfussy ideas. This was to be a contemporary garden with no frills.
Despite its small size the garden has a sunny and shady side to it – so the planting need to have some of both types of plants – see the list below.
Jurassic cream coloured limestone was used for the stone. The client did not want this replicated in coping for the raised rendered beds which were left plain.
The fencing was tongue and groove but it was painted with a wonderful dark petrol blue/slate colour to give it a smart effect along the contemporary garden design brief.
Above the fencing horizontal lathes of hard wood were installed which gives very good looking extra height.
The back wall was repointed and painted white which gives a strong clean light to the garden. The raised beds were rendered white walling.
As usual in small gardens good lighting is essential http://www.bemco.co.uk and uplighters and downlighter were installed in the raised beds.
The only plants that were saved from the original garden were the olive tree and tree fern. They were both incorporated into the design. The tree fern was moved out of its planter into the raised bed. The olive tree was also repositioned and taken out of its planter. Here below was our suggested list of plants for this lovely garden.
For the shadier areas:
Anemone x hybridus ‘Honorine Jobert’ or ‘September Charm’
Liriope muscari ‘Big Blue’
Helleborus niger
Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Snowqueen’
Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’
Hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’
Vinca minor for ground cover
Ilex crenata balls for structure
Pittosporum ‘Golf balls’ for structure
Ferns for shade:
Adiantum aleuticum
Dryopteris filix-mas
Matteuccia struthiopteris
Polystichum setiferum
Sunny – perennials and shrubs
Agapanthus
Echinacea purpurea ‘Green Jewel’
Gaura lindheimeri ‘Ballerina’
Heuchera ‘Palace Purple’ or ‘Chocolate Ruffles’
Libertia Formosa
Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’
Hebe ‘Silver Queen’
Lavandula (lavender) x intermedia ‘Grosso’ alba
Lavandula angustifolia ‘Hidcote’
Grasses
Carex ‘Everest’
Hakonechloa macra
Feature roses:
Rosa ‘William Shakespeare’
Rosa ‘Felicia’
Rosa ‘Gertrude Jekyll’
Rosa ‘Ballerina’
Climber:
Trachelospermum jasminoides (fence cover)