“Life’s too short for watering” This low-maintenance city garden is full of creative ideas for an easier gardening life
This low-maintenance city garden is full of creative ideas for an easier life. Owners Charlotte and Matthew Vaight share their design secrets
This smart city garden is full of clever design ideas. “It’s a large garden by London standards,” says owner Charlotte Vaight, a professional garden designer who lives here with her husband Matthew. “Our main goal was to extend our outdoor living space and create a low-maintenance design that wouldn’t need a lot of watering.
“It’s the only garden that I’ve completely ‘scalped’ – taken everything out before starting again,” she says. “When we bought the house it was a huge open lawn with a massive pyracantha hedge and specimen trees dotted about in random places. There was also an ‘unmanaged’ drop down from the house into the garden that wasn’t particularly inviting.
“We did a massive renovation in 2007 but a few years later we were f looded by a burst water main that ruined all the decking. So, in 2016, we revised the design again to create the garden you see here. “This time around we designed it with a view to how we were actually going to use it, not how we imagined we might. For instance, we had lots of raised beds for growing vegetables before, but because the garden is north-facing, and we didn’t have much spare time, we conceded that veg growing wasn’t going to be our thing. Instead, we needed areas for sitting, dining and low-maintenance planting. Now, the whole garden looks and feels more balanced.
“In the main we wanted sunny seating areas, attractive level changes and plants that would cope with the north-facing aspect. We knew the designs and styles we liked and the materials we wanted – timber and stone for practicality.”
The design now comprises two sitting areas, one at either end of the garden, with two circular lawns between them. “Up by
We wanted plants that would cope with the northfacing aspect
the house there’s a large new timber deck with a series of stepped, raised beds leading down to the lawns below,” explains Charlotte. “The stepped beds are north facing, so I’ve gone for shadetolerant heucheras, ferns, sarcococca, box and myrtle here. The deck at the top gets two months of sunshine in summer, with no direct sunlight for the rest of the year. Hydrangeas, yew, big tree ferns and a twisted-stem bay tree are all planted in large containers, underplanted with hellebores and more ferns for a sense of layering. I tend to use containers to add height and depth to spaces where I can’t plant into the soil.”
On the opposite, sunnier side of the garden, a paved patio gives more seating, with a greenhouse and handsome slatted cedar fencing. “This is backed by our neighbours’ 20ft-high leylandii hedge, so we’re also dealing with dry soil. Here I’ve gone for olive trees, sedums, cannas, euphorbias, roses and lots of lavender.” The oval lawns are framed by a wide boardwalk and wrap-around planting. “There’s an herbaceous border between the lawns that develops into a hazy screen as the season progresses. We’ve got roses, euphorbia, cornus and crocosmia, lots of floaty miscanthus ‘Morning Light’, Verbena bonariensis and bronze fennel. “London gardens are always overlooked, but we’ve used screening plants and small trees to block views, and angled the chairs so you have your back to any neighbouring windows. The fact the garden is lower than the house also makes us feel more private.” Charlotte’s preference for easy-care plants is sensible for a busy professional couple. “With any design you have to be realistic about what gardening you’re prepared to do,” she says. “I find watering incredibly boring and time consuming. So, after their first year, all the plants have to be self-sustaining. We did some spot watering last year but this year we’ve left them to root down to find the water for themselves. Pittosporum seems to manage well, while our ostrich ferns are fine until late summer, then die back earlier than they would in damper soil.” Charlotte isn’t fond of weeding either. “To avoid weeds, I plant quite deeply and densely,” she says. “We travel a lot, so our borders have to look after themselves.”
A large ornamental cherry, shimmering birches and Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’ provide autumn colour. “But the classic tree for any small garden would have to be amelanchier,” says Charlotte. “It’s
I find watering incredibly boring and time consuming
my go-to tree because it holds its shape so nicely. Sarcococca and pittosporums also hold their shape well – I have pittosporum ‘Nanum’, ‘Tom Thumb’ and ‘Golf Ball’ and they all just get on with it. These neat evergreens ensure the garden doesn’t look so desperately bare over winter.
“It’s worth remembering you don’t have to fill your garden with seasonal flowers,” says Charlotte. “I plant for texture, shape and height – and build up the foliage in layers. Around 80% of the garden is green of one shade or another.
“If I were creating the garden from scratch, I’d probably choose more plants for autumn colour and winter structure. But the reality is, we’re a couple of gardening enthusiasts who visit all sorts of nurseries and garden centres and end up buying plants we fall in love with. Then we hunt around trying to find a place to plant them – just like everybody else!” ✿