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Some
Garden Examples
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A Courtyard Garden
Contractor: Templetree
Landscapes
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BEFORE |
AFTER |
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Site
Description:
A
small, 5 x 7m north- west facing, walled courtyard garden belonging
to a modern 1990s mews development.
The garden was a difficult space to use with a small muddy lawn
and a brick path cutting through any useful sitting area; and
the sunniest area being taken up by planting beds. A semi-mature
cherry tree cast shade over what little garden there was making
it feel smaller. Adjacent to a private road, the back boundary
was overlooked by a block of flats with fierce security lighting.
There was a gentle slope towards the back gate. The top soil
was imported clay/ and or builders debris and very shallow in
places with patches of solid concrete from foundations of a
previous building.
The Brief:
The professional couple wanted:
• An attractive terraced entertaining area.
• A funky coloured shed for storage of dog items/ wellies;
• Low maintenance planting with evergreens for all year
round structure.
• A water feature focal point to be seen from the house.
• Lighting to enhance the garden at night.
The Hard landscaping:
Most of the garden was terraced in a beautiful sandstone
with sandstone setts and 'blue' engineering bricks for detailing.
The garden slope was levelled out which created a single step
down to the back gate.
A raised timber planter made from softwood sleepers, gives height
interest and contains the focal point, purple, slate monolith
water feature.
A new, small 'off the shelf' shed was painted and it's existing
felt roof clad in attractive cedar shingle tiles. The boundary
walls were painted a pale yellow to lighten the area.
Copper uplighters in teh planting and a submersed light in the
water feature add another attractive dimension at night..
The Planting Design:
Movement and height was introduced with the bamboos
and a good sized specimen tree (Photinia x fraserii 'Red
Robin)' - this has an attractive lollipop shape and will
need to be clipped to retain it's compact shape. The planting
palette reflects the purpley tones in the paving and in the
heucheras, the Photinia and dark canes of the black bamboo.
The plant palette was simple but repetitive to create a feeling
of harmony with Pinus mugo, Heuchera 'Palace Purple', Liriope
muscari, Geranium himalayense and Alchemilla mollis
as groundcover.
The walls were used to great effect with the purple leaved claret
vine, honeysuckles, parthenocissus henryii on the shadier
walls and tracheleospermum on the south east facing wall. Clematis
will give lots of colour throughout the year (C. macropetala,
C. Mrs Bateman, C. Etoile Violette).
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PROGRESS
PHOTOS: 1 year later |
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