My client for this garden is a young retired lady who wanted to create her ‘forever’ garden. Her house had been fully renovated with a kitchen and sun room facing south, with panoramic views out onto a large rectangular garden.When I first saw the garden it was tidy but featureless, with an unattractive concrete path alongside the house and a small sitting area. The large lawn sloped to the west and was defined by a raised bed to one side and an unsightly mound of spoil at the far end, covered with broken flags and only redeemed by a collection of Rhododendrons, which my client loved.This lady told me that she didn’t have much knowledge of plants but she ‘knew what she liked’. She actually has a very definite sense of this and an amazing eye for detail. The garden we developed together has a formal simple layout arranged around an axis down its length. There is now a wide patio, paved with pale grey porcelain flags which tone with the kitchen, and wide shallow steps that lead to the main lawn. The height of this was brought up to one side so that it now has a level appearance from the house. The retaining walls are faced with beautiful quartzite paddlestones with a black slate coping. The mound has been reprofiled with raised beds to the front and a timber retaining wall at the back. A narrower set of steps to one side of the garden leads through planting to a small terrace which has views out to the hills and catches the evening sun.My client loves evergreen plants so we chose a range that gives her year-round interest and colour, with flowering perennials added around the evening terrace. The mound was planted with a range of Rhododendrons, dwarf Pine, Maples and Magnolia. I was delighted that my client actually gained enough confidence to choose and place the last few plants herself and now spends happy hours tending this lovely space.Share
