A Rear Garden with Levels

THE BRIEF

This garden was designed for a family with three children, aged 4-11.  The father is a full-time teacher and the mother is a part time GP. They are keen gardeners but have busy lives so time had to be a consideration.  The current garden was spread across various levels, and the clients wanted to address this to create delineated usable levels, including a level area of lawn. They also wanted two sitting areas (one near the house, one with shade), a greenhouse and a kitchen garden.  They wanted the planting to have a soft ‘country’ feel and they wanted the elevations and veranda of the house to be softened with appropriate planting.

THE DESIGN

A kitchen garden was created by incorporating the existing apple tree into a new walled garden.  This included a greenhouse, raised beds and a wall for espaliered fruit.  A level lawn was created (primarily to be used for the children to play sports on) and two seating areas were introduced.  The first of these was a ‘fire pit’ area which was placed on a raised, enclosed level at the back of the garden and this was covered by shade sails to create a ‘hang out’ area for both parents and children!  A more formal dining area was placed nearer the house on a York Stone terrace, and the harsh lines of the house were softened with climbing roses and lavender.

THE PLANTING

The clients wanted a ‘country’ feel to the planting and so the terrace was surrounded by Lavandula hidcote to give both colour and perfume whilst giving a soft, country feel.  The silvery foliage of the lavender was complemented with the use of Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’.  The country feel was continued with the use of Digitalis, Geranium Roxanne and Penstemon ‘Raven’.  Angelica archangelica was used to give height and structure in the borders.  Rosa Mme Alfred Carriere is a climbing rose which is happy in a north facing position and so it was the perfect choice to soften the balcony structure around the house.  Betula utilis jaquemontii have bright white trunks and so these were placed in the back corner of the garden to brighten and lengthen the feel of the space.