Friday, October 2, 2009

Garden on a New Site

This garden, built on the site of what was previously a hotel car park, is long, narrow and sloping. The builders had produced long, thin beds along either side, and paths that followed the line of the beds with a further path crossing on the diagonal to join up the two independent routes. The result was an already long and thin area of ground which had been made to appear even longer and Thinner. You will also wanted space to grow a wide range of plants and wished to concentrate on those with scent. It will be nice if the length to be divided up so that the end of the garden was not immediately visible from the house at the top, and to end up with a design that would make the garden appear shorter and wider.

To improve your lawn, form a long, curved outline that narrowed about one- third of the way down. This meant that, with the addition of strategically placed trellis and climbers, parts of the lower section of the garden would be out of view from the top end. However, a hint of what followed would appear through the narrow width of lawn in the centre.

On the left-hand side, which receives sun for most of the day where the lawn narrows, he introduced an arbor so that from here both the top and lower ends of the garden could be viewed simultaneously.

The lawn was reshaped with an undulating edge and the main area of construction was on the left-hand side. Part way down the length, a pergola was constructed over a seat to form the arbor. Edged in bricks a curving path of gravel has paving stepping-stones set into it and runs down the side of the lawn.

At the end of the garden a narrow paved path has been widened creating a larger terrace and working area, screened by trellis. In front of the lower terrace, upended logs form a retaining wall for a flat bed which is built up above the paving. The planting, which helps to hide the wall of the garage front the house and to provide privacy for the terrace itself

The scented flowers introduced into this garden include Lonicera fingrantissima, with its creamy white flowers in winter and early spring and Daphne x burkzcoodil 'Somerset' with its purple-pink flowers and heady fragrance. Philadelphia Manteau flowers in early summer, then roses and herbs take over.

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