Alison Marsden, Gardening by Design
Site
& Requirements
A large front garden with parking for up to 4 cars, a boundary of shrubs and the rest laid to lawn. The garden faces North East so gets plenty of morning sun but is shaded by the house thereafter. It slopes both downwards a metre from the house to the road and downwards 40cm from right to left in the picture below.
It is a coastal garden about ½ mile from the beach and as a result the soil is very sandy about 10cm beneath the surface. Any plants must be suited to a very free draining sandy soil that tends to acid over a period of time and also able to withstand salty sea air.
The existing driveway is tarmac but is at the end of its serviceable life and will be replaced as part of this project.
Despite being almost 15m (50ft) square, the garden currently feels very small. There are no focal points or variations in level or texture and no plants to attract the eye across the width of the garden. The current division into tarmac and grass gives too much empty space and divides the garden into two unrelated halves right across the middle. There is no geometric structure to the garden and this means that there is little cohesion between the very angular lines of the house and the irregular curve of the drive.
Requirements
The prime objective is to show the house off to best effect and make the garden look as large as it really is. The secondary objective is to provide greater flexibility and convenience of car parking whilst removing the immediate focus of the area from the cars and to the porch.
The garage should no longer be the dominant feature of the house. Now as you walk or drive onto the property the first and main thing you see is the garage door & the cars parked in front of it.
The emphasis should be on plants and greenery not masses of hard landscaping and possibly include architectural plants and more height in the garden.
The colours of the driveway and garden should complement the house.
How much can be
changed
The owners are prepared to move the drive from the right of the plan to the left of the plan to improve the view of the house on the approach. There are no planning problems with this from the local council.
The owners are prepared to remove or replace any or all of the current planting as part of a new scheme.
Overall
Design Recommendations
Problems in the
current garden and design solutions
Problem: there is nothing to link the garden to the house; there are no common design features to make them ‘belong’ together.
Ô Geometric shapes in the design of the garden would echo the sharp outlines of the house much better than the current asymmetrical curve. This might include straight lines, diagonals and circles.
Ô Dividing areas of the garden using strong diagonal lines will provide a link the shape of the porch roof; it is not necessary to use complete triangles in the design.
Problem: the garden slopes in two directions.
Ô Terracing a sloping garden to given large horizontal areas with low retaining walls gives a more satisfactory result in most situations and is recommended here (all such works require consultation with a local landscape contractor).
Ô A house is shown off to best advantage if surrounded by a level area at least 1.5m wide all round; this gives a feeling of stability.
Ô Using changes of level to emphasise the position of the house above the road reinforces the house as the most important feature and the focal point of the garden.
Ô A stepped path may be provided up the terraces to the front door but flat access is also needed via the drive for less able people, prams & buggies etc.
Planting guidelines
Ô
More planting and more tall planting than
currently in the garden will create a balance between mass and void. The usual recommendation for the
Ô Using a range of plant material including some (suitable) trees will provide a sense of proportion and emphasis the true size of the garden Unfurnished rooms in a house generally look smaller then they are because there is nothing to compare the space to and it is the same for empty gardens.
Plant material
Ô The space is large enough to take some big, dramatic plants and these will balance the height and bulk of the house.
Ô Spiky and architectural plants used as focal points will echo the sharp lines of the porch roof and also the diagonal lines of the design.
Ô Planting in three layers provides greater scope for year round interest – the prime example is spring bulbs under deciduous shrubs under small trees. The three layers are: 1) trees, 2) shrubs with the lower stems kept clear of branches, bamboos and similar architectural plants and 3) low mounded shrubs, perennials, ground cover and low-medium bulbs.
Hard material
Ô For a large area such as the drive and parking space, larger paving slabs or a widely spaced imprinted design can give a less fussy and less attention-grabbing result than small sized setts or blocks. Think of broad pavements laid with old fashioned slabs or generous terraces with similarly large tiles; the lack of lines gives a static, unobtrusive feel and lets the eye ignore the area in favour of something more interesting. By contrast a cobbled street or the modern block paving equivalent has so much texture and so many lines that it seems ‘busy’ and in a large area can seem endless. Plain walls versus flowery wall paper is another analogy.
Ô If you want to reflect the proximity of the coast then 4-6cm pebbles as a mulch around hummock forming shrubs and ornamental grasses give a gentle nod of the head towards a seaside garden without going over the top.
So
what’s the Plan?
Curve the drive right round the front half of the garden from corner to corner, keeping it at the level of the road and therefore up to 50cm lower than the house.
Run a drive from the curve to the garage, obscuring the garage and providing a diagonal accent as in Scheme A
The garden from the curve up to the house can remain sloping but I recommend that it be terraced.
Lay a path from the drive across the front of the house – take it right across the dining room to increase the impression of width and provide hard path to access the windows and side border.
Possibly lay a path diagonally from the curve of the drive to the front door to emphasise the house as the focal point and discourage people from taking shortcuts across planted areas.