Our client had been inspired by the new perennial planting movement and the gardens of Piet Oudolf. They had acquired a piece of land next to their garden which could be seen from the upper floors of their house and were keen that this should be lit up with waves of beautiful planting through the summer. As the client wasn’t clear on how they would use this garden over time, we had to think of ways of future proofing the layout so that any elements could be lifted and moved without huge cost.

Our approach was to lay large sections of the garden most visible from the client’s home to planting. This was crisscrossed by a path and set off by a new lawn. We reused existing path materials to do this, simply reconfiguring their layout in the new space.

We worked with our client to develop a planting palette, using plants with a deep colour saturation in blues, dark pinks and burgundy. Silvery tones of Mediterranean shrubs that lift the colour scheme are repeated in two multi -stem Eucalyptus trees that frame the planting on the back wall. Grasses are threaded through the flowering perennials to bring height, movement, structure, and long season interest.

The garden is now full of invertebrate life throughout the growing season, humming with bees and hoverflies. And due to the high density of planting, weeds are kept under control, there are combinations of plants in flower throughout a long season and little maintenance is required to keep this garden looking beautiful.

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