Alison Marsden, Gardening by Design

Site & Requirements

A large back garden laid mainly to lawn. The garden faces North West so gets plenty of afternoon sun particularly close to the house. It drops away by approximately a metre directly behind the house and continues to slope gently to the far end of the garden.

Ô An area to sit and entertain running the width of the house with access from all three doors and plenty of flexible seating.

Ô A sense of privacy even on the raised deck.

Ô A feel and style around the house of ‘holiday’ without attempting a faithful recreation of any geographic region.

Ô Ability to provide shade over part of the raised deck, preferably not permanent

Ô A herb garden close to the back door

Plan with plant images added

This is a scale flat plan with the main features and plants overlaid to show the sheltering effect of tall planting with bamboos and ornamental grasses etc. and also how the geometric edges of the deck are softened by planting.

Setting the steps on the diagonal from the edge of the deck help to direct your view away from next door and round into the direction of the rest of garden. They also help to enclose the bench area and allow more room to plant in front of the west fence to obscure next door’s garden. Locating the steps on the west side of the deck balances the extension of the deck up to the dining room and gives space for a table to be permanently sited in the east corner without interrupting direct access to the steps from any of the house doors.

Rounded evergreen shrubby herds such as lavender and rosemary look good right through the year and contrast very well with the vertical lines of the grasses. Both look great with a mulch of pebbles or cobbles (the only difference is the size) and also with some strong architectural plants in pots. The whole effect with the deck is just slightly beachy and reminiscent of seaside holidays.

Front elevation

This is not a true elevation or the width of the beds and deck would be completely lost. The main object is to show how dividing the 1m drop from deck to garden lessons the visual impact of the palisading used to block off the empty space under the deck, provide planting to shelter the deck higher up than real ground level and also gives s sense of enclosure or a ‘secret garden’ around the bench.