Small Overlooked Garden

Case study: Small Overlooked Garden

Our customer became overlooked when their neighbour decided to remove a mature hedge, so the specification for this job was to create a visual barrier between the two properties. Instant impact was key here and the use of the two large trees was essential to this planting scheme. We used a Prunus “Amanogawa” and the Amelanchier “Ballerina”. Both these trees are stunning and are great for the smaller garden.

We built a pergola in an L shape around the end of the building. We designed this for two reasons. The first reason was to lift the garden vertically up, giving a frame to support climbers and to allow them to grow up and over helping to reduce the view of the neighbour’s garage. The two climbers we used were the Clematis “Montana”, a fast growing Clematis which offers both a stunning display of flowers and also beautiful scent in late spring. The other climber is a Mimosa Acacia “Dealbata”. This is the first time we have used this within a planting scheme, but the customer loves the colour yellow and in February it is covered with clusters of beautiful yellow flowers. It also has beautiful, delicate leaves which gives a tropical feel about it, so adds something different to this design.

The second reason for the L shaped pergola is that behind the building was a small disused shed, which was a dead space, so by removing this and continuing the pergola around the corner, this area can now be filled with pots planted with an array of plants and, in time, will become a tranquil, secluded seating area.

The Box hedge and Box spheres give the garden some formality and is a defined line between lawn and boarder. In-fill plants were as follows: Verbena Bonariensis, Rudbeckia “Goldstrum”, Helenium “Moerheim Beauty”, Echinacea Purpurea and Alba and Achillea “Red Velvet”. These were planted in small blocks and the use of the white Echinacea is used to dot around to give a flash of a different colour tone. The Stipa Tenussima grass was planted in swathes this gives a broad strip of movement within the planting scheme. The last plant we used, in the back of the planting, was the Sambucus “Sutherlands Gold”; a beautiful golden yellow shrub which will grow to a good size in time.