Client Brief for Raised Garden
This project involved the renovation and redesign of the western side borders of a large, well maintained, residential garden. The garden itself mainly consisted of trees, shrubs and open expanses of lawn. Many of the shrubs had outgrown their space resulting in the borders becoming congested and the plants were struggling show off their true potential. The large garden had been developed over a number of years and was unevenly made up of straight borders to the westerly side and curved borders to the eastly side. The garden was then split into two roughly equal halves horizontally, with a linear shingle path leading under a steel archway supporting ancient climbing roses. This resulted in half the garden being adjacent to the house and the other half occupying the latter half of the garden. The two halves of the garden were then joined by an additional curving pathway made up of a ‘pinkish' coloured pavers winding its way mostly from the house around the easterly side of the garden to the rear of the garden and beyond into a wooded area.
The client brief for the garden design was to removed many of the existing shrubs from the western side of the garden and create new borders to be replanted with the aim of providing a great deal more colour, and interest, unifying the western and eastern sides of the garden, making the space feel more as one garden, as shown in the before and after drawings below.
THE Design Solution – A bespoke planting plan with expanded and reshaped borders
Being a large open garden facing SSE, and in spite of there being a number of mature trees, the garden enjoys sunshine for most of the day. The garden also benefits from an existing irrigation system, one which however would need to be altered to fit the new borders.
To deliver an abundance of colour, the design necessitated the creation of large sweeping curved perennial borders planted up with successional flowering herbaceous plants interrupted with occasional shrubs appropriately spaced.
The herbaceous plants chosen to fulfill the brief ranged in height so the border appearance is graduated from the back to the front. Starting at the back with Veronicastrum virginicum 'Fascination', Helianthus 'Lemon Queen' and Agastache 'Blue Fortune'. Then mid height range planting of Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna', Helenium 'Moerheim Beauty' and Echinacea purpurea 'Rubinstern', with the front of the border planted with Nepeta grandiflora 'Summer Magic' and Geum 'Totally Tangerine', Due to the scale of the garden, the new borders will also include bulbs, herbaceous plants and grasses rescued from the old borders with the introduction of further spring flowing bulbs such as the giant Alliums ‘Globemaster' providing an early spring boost of colour. Additionally, the plan also included some smaller shrubs to provide winter structure and the introduction of six Trachelospermum jasminoides interspaced with the ancient roses over the steel archway. The new shaping of the borders to western side would then be more in keeping with the east side borders and the main curved paver path, unifying the whole garden.
CONSTRUCTION
It is hugely important to me as a garden designer to work with garden landscapers I trust and rather than impose a landscaper on any client I invited three different professional landscapers to take part in the tender ensuring that they can fulfill the design brief and can build a good relationship with the client.
During construction of this garden design, it was important that every effort is made to protect areas not requiring work from any damage as this was a very well maintained garden. So, the landscapers laid protection boarding over existing patio areas and all plants that need to be kept were carefully lifted and stored. I also select landscapers who are multifaceted, combining landscape construction with carpentry, steelwork, plumbing and electrics. In this particular design; steelwork was mostly the priority. By employing the very best garden landscapers in the area, I found the garden renovation fell very much into place. The steel work, although visually obtrusive at the moment, will disappear over time as the plants develop and the lawn recovers but should make the lawn edge much more permanent and easier to maintain.
Due to the time of year that construction took place the full effect of the planting will not come into its own until the spring of 2026. Further photography will be added at that time.
THE FINAL RESULTS
