Walk on water
In conversation with garden designer Mary Maurel, we get her take on creating focal areas and maximising garden available space. ‘I get excited by challenging spaces and love the level of consideration required for tight garden spaces,’ says Mary. It’s so important to maximize available outdoor space and allow the garden to be an extension of the the home. The spaces should flow and feel harmonious. ‘The water wall and pond is probably the most obvious example of this in the garden as it reflects the building in scale and proportion and leads the eye from the interior and into the exterior,’ says Mary. The materials of the garden also work coherently with the materials of the house. For example, the stonework – bush hammered granite pavers over the Koi pond and interplanted slate pavers, complement the stone work on the facade of the house. The colours and textures are consistent and the planted wall and water provide a dramatic visual point. The best plants to create a water wall effect are Ornamental orchids with cascading Swamp lobelia (Lobelia anceps) and Crassula fragilis (top left); lime green Maiden hair fern, sedge grass, Carex clavate (top right) and miniature papyrus (Cypress prolifer)
(bottom right).
‘I strive to make entrances look great all year, and recommend working predominately with evergreen planting to do this,’ advises Mary. The kitchen garden with feature water wall and pond is focal from within the home and contains a much-loved vegetable garden, as well as discrete service area separated by a level change and screened by a row of fragrant lime trees.
The sheltered main garden and pool is overlooked by decks off the house that float above the garden - cleverly accentuated by planting whispy grasses and African grass aloes beneath them. After numerous visits to the tree nursery, homeowner Jan-heyn and Mary selected the holly oak, one of Mary’s favourite screening trees for privacy along the property boundaries and camphor bush to screen the pool, both chosen for their ability to thrive in salty sea air. ‘We love that the garden truly feels like a natural extension of the interior spaces – architectural in design and yet relaxed and not precious in terms of plant selection,’ says Jan-heyn. Mary Maurel Gardens n
8 marymaurelgardens.co.za
‘It’s about understanding the interior spaces, engaging with them in such a way that you know what is needed beyond them’ MARY MAUREL