We were asked to redesign a garden that had long been dominated by a giant trampoline. A problem shared by many. Now that the kids are older, the trampoline could finally go and the space reclaimed as a garden. The owner was itching to grow vegetables and lots more lovely plants than a conventional lawn plus borders layout would allow. They wanted a garden to potter about in, deadheading things and talking to their cabbages.
The garden runs at a stark angle from the back of the house which led the design away from straight lines and in a curvy direction. We introduced three key spaces, a terrace with built in seating, a flower garden and a vegetable garden which were all linked with a wide S shaped path, blurring the angle of the garden and giving an illusion of greater length. The curvy path allowed for large planting borders in the middle section of the garden. We used a riven sandstone for the curved terrace and tumbled setts for the path, giving the space a soft, cottage garden feel. This was amplified by a hazel archway, hurdles and raised vegetable beds.
We juxtaposed the cottage garden elements with contemporary detailing for the built in seating. We love the resulting mix of cottage garden and urban cool. The client wanted the planting to be quite wild so we have used lovely perennials such as Verbena, Agapanthus and Kniphofia mixed in with some of our favourite grasses – Calamagrostis acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ and Pennisetum alopecuroides. We’re really looking forward to seeing how this garden develops as the summer goes on and are itching to go back and potter about in it ourselves.