Small wonder In a small London garden, designer Arne Maynard has employed a mix of Corten steel and his trademark topiary to create a space that is both beautiful and biodynamic
Designer Arne Maynard has employed a mix of Corten steel and his trademark topiary to transform a small north London garden
Exquisitely clipped topiary pieces, espaliered fruit trees and well-judged, ornamental planting are vintage Arne Maynard. Yet at the heart of his design for Michael and Susan’s north London garden are a series of raised beds for biodynamic vegetables. Susan is a half Japanese homoeopath with a passion for kitchen gardening and Michael is a native north Londoner. The brief the couple gave to Arne was a short film of the American children’s author and illustrator Tasha Tudor in her Vermont cottage garden. It is hard to imagine a more potent mix of cultural influences, and it has resulted in an exceptional garden. The overall impression is of a crisply contemporary city space that complements a radical interior redesign. In 2015 the couple moved from central London to an Arts and Crafts-style house at the northerly end of the London Underground network, in a quiet street close to the one where Michael grew up.
“We wanted a family home for our daughter,” says Michael. “I was comfortable managing the construction side of the job, but I didn’t know where to start with the garden. In fact, we didn’t realise just how important the view of the garden would be until we removed the back of the house and replaced it with a glass-sided extension.” By the time Arne first visited the house, the interior had been scooped out and finished in a minimalist style that made the garden the main decorative element of the family living space. “I could immediately see its potential,” he says. “Every garden I create is a reflection of the place, the house and the people, and this was no different.
“Because of the large rear windows, this is an inside-outside garden. The house has black brick fireplaces, so we used the same brick out on the terrace. We needed raised beds for vegetables, but oak would have been too rustic so we made them from Corten steel, although they are lined in oak according to biodynamic principles, so the soil doesn’t come into contact with metal.
Overall, the garden needed enough structure to hold its own throughout the year, while the softer planted elements ebb and flow to mark the passing of the seasons.”
Inevitably, there were practical issues to address, as well as aesthetic ones. “City gardens are really complicated,” says Arne. “It is so much easier to make a big country garden.” The ground sloped up towards its rear boundary and was overwhelmed by a number of large trees. The soil was poor quality and free draining in the higher sections, while the lower part was prone to waterlogging, and although Susan and Michael had set their hearts on an orchard, the aspect was simply not suitable.
Arne solved this with the simple idea of planting it in the front garden instead. Consequently the in-and-out driveway is bordered by gooseberry and currant bushes, as well as clipped yew domes, alchemilla and linaria, and privacy is provided by a stilt hedge of espaliered apples.
To the rear of the house, one large tree was removed, land drains were laid and the soil was extensively improved to give the carefully chosen plant palette the best start in life.
This ornamental planting is layered up seasonally, starting with a groundcover of Viola odorata and alpine strawberries that protects the soil from winter erosion. This soon disappears under a tapestry of tulips and other spring bulbs, carefully orchestrated to fill the garden with flowers from late March through to May, by which time Paeonia ‘Starlight’ is in full flower, along with palest lavender-coloured
Iris ‘Berliner Overture’ and the long-flowering astrantias ‘Buckland’ and ‘Roma’. Some plants, including witch hazel and lavender, were partially chosen for their homoeopathic benefits. Spires of Digitalis ferruginea and Lupinus ‘Noble Maiden’ introduce a vertical accent and the pretty anemones A. Dreaming Swan (= ‘Macane004’) and A. Ruffled Swan (= ‘Macane007’) extend the season well into autumn.
Paths wind up through these flower beds to a little meadow at the end of the garden. “This is not a wildflower meadow as such, because that would look too messy at certain times of year, but it is not cut every week so it can get a little shaggy and informal,” says Arne.
The topiary, in contrast, is carefully maintained and Michael is anticipating the day when the cloud-pruned yew hedges get a little heavier. “We already love the garden, but when this hedge is thicker it will improve the proportions even more.” With clients as committed to fine detail as the designer himself, it is no wonder this garden is as good as it is.
USEFUL INFORMATION
Find out more about Arne’s work and courses at arnemaynard.com
Right Although the garden is only 33m long, Arne has created several distinctive areas, including an informal meadow at the far end, and the asymmetrically placed raised beds, surrounding beds of soft planting, create several winding paths through the garden, lengthening the journey and making the garden seem larger than it is. Symmetrical rows of formally trained pleached ’Doyenné du Comice’ pears add some vertical structure and much needed privacy, while also adding a sense of enclosure – similar to the feeling of a walled garden.