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The Osborne’s garden is a masterclass in making the best of a long and narrow plot
How to make a narrow garden work in your favour
PRIMARy school teacher Heather Osborne expected to go to the top of the class when she presented photographs of her plot to her garden design tutor. But instead of praising her for using an urn as a focal point at the end of the narrow 175ft (53m) stretch, Heather was told she had done “precisely the wrong thing.” Digging borders across the width of the garden to make it look wider would have been a better use of the space she was advised.
“Although initially crestfallen, I’ve come to realise that this was the best piece of design advice I’ve ever been given,” says Heather, who is now retired from teaching. Nowadays the space behind the 1940’s home she shares with husband Peter is very different. Although the heavy urn hasn’t moved, it’s no longer visible from the opposite end of the garden; the sight line
“It was the best design advice I’ve ever been given”
obscured by a variety of trees, hedges, beds and borders and an active wildlifefriendly pond. All come together as a series of rooms that push the visual boundaries of the plot and create a sense of seclusion, while still being just a mile away from St Alban’s Medieval town centre and a few feet from a busy road. Weaving throughout are paths, presenting visitors with different routes and a variety of views.
A further Royal Horticultural Society course has added to Heather’s plant knowledge. “It helped me see how to plant for year round interest,” she says. The couple have also discovered which species are best suited to the variety of habitats in the garden, which include cool shade, hot and dry areas and the moist pond surround.
While plants, especially unusual ones, are definitely Heather’s thing, gardening in the Osborne household isn’t a onesided affair. Says Peter: “I make the compost we need to enrich the heavy clay, stone and flint soil – as well as helping with the heavy work.” All in all the pair have created an oasis that’s rich in colour and wildlife, so much so that they’ve recorded 34 different species of birds, along with scores of dragonflies.
“I’m outside every day, unless it’s absolutely dire, in which case I look out at the garden from my kitchen window,” says Heather. No longer being able to see everything from this one spot she adds: “I think it’s my favourite view.”