STYLE & SUBSTANCE Leading garden designers on balancing form and function
WE HEAR FROM FOUR GARDEN DESIGNERS, WHO EXPLAIN HOW THEY MARRY BEAUTY AND PURPOSE IN THEIR SCHEMES
CHARLOTTE ROWE MIXES STRUCTURED PLANTING WITH CLEVER ZONING IN A CITY SPACE
OUR clients had built a new contemporary-style house that called for a rethink of the garden. Two lawns are separated by layers of box and hornbeam alongside pleached hornbeam trees creating garden rooms. Beyond this a stepping stone path leads into a veg plot and, further on, a shady space where existing planting is complemented with seasonal planting of Briza media ‘Golden Bee’, Astrantia major ‘Gillian Richards’ and Allium ‘Mount Everest’, plus dwarf white rhododendrons.
In each area there are generous borders, with Stachys byzantina, clipped box balls, Euphorbia cornigera and Nepeta ‘Walker’s Low’ creating a cool, calm mood near the house. We kept some plants the owner loved from the original garden, including irises, cornus and a magnolia, and also added specimen trees including Acer griseum and Prunus Maackii ‘Autumn Beauty’.
A large terrace of polished concrete with an outdoor fireplace provides a stylish dining area – the poured concrete finish was also used to create stepping stones. Another smaller terrace, edged with Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ and Viola cornuta ‘Alba’, tucks in beneath the pleached hornbeams, while understated wooden benches are placed under the shade of mature trees, including a large eucalyptus that was retained for its beautiful form. →
“WE EFFECTIVELY CREATED TWO LAWNS DIVIDED BY HEDGING AND THE SECOND TERRACE – I DON’T LIKE AN OVER-LARGE,
PURPOSELESS LAWN” CHARLOTTE ROWE, garden designer
“I WANTED A FABULOUS ENTRANCE WITH GLIMPSES OF THE GARDEN BEYOND THROUGH ARCHES IN THE HEDGES AND INTRIGUING DOORWAYS” JO ALDERSON PHILLIPS, garden designer
ROB JONES AND JO ALDERSON PHILLIPS INFUSE CLASSIC STYLE INTO A SECRET GARDEN
THIS classical Georgian-style country house needed a garden of equal stature. The property has several acres with far-reaching views and this secret garden was built on the site of a neglected tennis court. The gardens at Levens Hall have certainly been an influence; the anchors here are a succession of yew topiary domes leading through each colour coordinated garden with the owner’s sculptures creating beautiful sight lines.
In the sunny central beds surrounding the topiary, alliums (‘Mount Everest’, ‘Purple Sensation’ and christophii) emerge from the carpet of Salvia x sylvestris ‘Schneehügel’, which flowers all summer. Paeonia lactiflora ‘Duchesse de Nemours’ blooms in early summer followed by Lavandula angustifolia ‘Rosea’, Alchemilla mollis, Erysimum ‘Bowles’ Mauve’ and Echinops ritro ‘Veitch’s Blue’.
Thalictrum delavayi ‘Splendide White’, Artemisia ‘Valerie Finnis’ and white agapanthus sit at the base bespoke obelisks (woodengardenobelisk.co.uk), home to climbing roses, including the ‘The Generous Gardener’, and Clematis ‘Miss Bateman’ and C. alpina ‘Helsingborg’, while shrub roses planted en masse, including ‘Felicia’, and ‘William and Catherine’, smother the floor beneath.→
CLAIRE MERRIMAN TRANSFORMS A VILLAGE GARDEN INTO A LOWMAINTENANCE WILDLIFE HAVEN
IN this total overhaul of an overgrown five-acre site on the edge of a Surrey village, paying close attention to nature was a key part of the brief – the garden is a sanctuary for the people who live here and for the native wildlife too. Central to the design is the large terrace area that sweeps around the house, allowing views straight out from the kitchen and drawing room across colourful borders to the lake and wildflower meadow beyond.
To maintain those beautiful views planting across the terrace is low with swathes of colour from Lavandula angustifolia ‘Hidcote’, Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Tuscan Blue’ and Veronica umbrosa ‘Georgia Blue’. Repeated spheres of Elaeagnus ebbingei, Hebe topiaria and Pittosporum tobira ‘Nanum’ pull the areas of the terrace together, while stunning multi-stemmed Koelreuteria paniculata trees allow views out into the wider landscape.
Entertaining spaces flow out from the house with seating and dining areas as well as a lower terrace with plenty of seating set around a lily bowl, a motif that repeats the circular theme seen elsewhere. Large pots positioned on the terrace allow seasonal planting to be added throughout the year.
“VIEWS ARE KEY TO THE DESIGN. THE SHAPE OF THE HOUSE MADE IT CHALLENGING TO ACHIEVE A COHESIVE ARRANGEMENT FOR THE OUTSIDE SPACE”
CLAIRE MERRIMAN, garden designer