ANOTHER LEVEL
Thanks to a bit of clever design magic, a compact city plot offers a play area for children, vibrant planting, and a super-smart seating spot for some grown-up relaxing
When a garden is tiny, how can you make it work for two boisterous small boys who love to charge about, and their parents, who want a sophisticated area to sit in during the evening? For garden designer Kate Gould (above), such challenges are all in a day’s work. The RHS Chelsea Gold winner is famous for transforming small urban spaces into vibrant, contemporary outdoor living rooms, but even she was daunted when she first saw the property in Brook Green, west London.
‘It was a death trap,’ Kate laughs. ‘It was all on different levels, with slippery decking, rats, you name it.’ But the client, Henrietta, was keen to create a really bold, colourful garden and, for Kate, this was a refreshing change. ‘I work with hundreds of clients,’ she says, ‘and most of them will want either white or pastel shades. Henrietta was completely different. She had a snug at the end of her kitchen bursting with copper hues, oranges and burnished tones, so I took those colours into the planting outside.’
The result is a warm, contemporary space that gave the boys a lawn to play on and, up a couple of steps, a separate, living room-style seating area for the grown-ups. A sleek grey sofa strewn with tangerine cushions is surrounded by architectural foliage, which gives the area a sense of seclusion.
In the raised beds, vivid orange, yellow and red flowers jostle with pink and purple to form a riot of colour that is offset by cool white limestone paving and eyecatching oversized rusted planters. It’s a great example of how a small space can be full of textural interest. Here’s how Kate created this dynamic garden…
OVERSIZED POTS MAKE A FOCAL POINT
Two round corten steel-effect planters filled with succulents make a statement and pick up the orange tones in the planting. In small gardens we often think we should go for small pots, but something oversized brings a real sense of drama. Kate planted them with succulents, which are very easy to look after, needing no watering. ‘The important thing is to add horticultural grit to the compost,’ she says, as succulents are desert plants and don’t like having wet, soggy roots. ‘About a third grit should do it.’ Make sure, too, that the drainage holes are substantial.
BE REALISTIC ABOUT YOUR SOIL AND LOCATION
‘All the best design in the world doesn’t matter if the soil isn’t right,’ says Kate. She and her team brought at least 60 bags of soil through the house to improve the London clay, and opting for raised beds
means Mediterranean plants, such as the olive trees and lavender, can keep their roots out of the clay. The turf on the lower level is artificial and, though Kate would rather not use plastic in the garden, sometimes it’s the best solution in a small urban space. ‘With London clay the lawn just becomes a bog,’ she says. Additionally, artificial turf is much kinder on small boys’ knees than gravel.
SECLUDED SEATING
When you’re making a seating area in an urban garden, the key is to create a feeling of seclusion, says Kate, ‘because in a city you’re overlooked the whole time’. A tree fern and Grayswood Ghost silver birch trees create dappled shade and a screen from the neighbours, while a star jasmine clothes the wall and an unusual winter-flowering edgeworthia shrub produces pale yellow scented flowers in the depths of winter. Putting the seating area on a higher level than the play area also demarcates it as a separate zone with a different vibe.
BE BRAVE WITH COLOUR
‘The age of the wishy-washy pastel garden is coming to an end and we’re all embracing more colour, so don’t be afraid to experiment,’ says Kate, who let loose here with purples, pinks, oranges and reds. There’s full-on orange in Geum ‘Totally Tangerine’, ‘Golden Chimes’ day lilies and Crocosmia ‘Emily McKenzie’, and a subtler, coppery quality to the ferns, succulents, Phormium ‘Maori Sunrise’ and the autumn foliage of the Snow Queen oak-leaved hydrangea. Pinks warm the mix, from bleeding heart to alliums and a pale penstemon.
Cool chartreuse Heuchera ‘Key Lime Pie’ and Carex elata ‘Aurea’ provide fresh contrast, especially against the crisp white of the rendered beds, and silvery olive leaves add another metallic hue.
‘It’s a bit of a “Heinz 57” garden,’ laughs Kate. ‘There’s one of everything.’ But it comes together beautifully. ‘I try to make gardens to be in, rather than to look at,’ she says – and it’s true that this colourful, exuberant space has something for all the family.
‘I try to make gardens to be in, rather than look at’’