PLANTING · DESIGN · LANDSCAPING
This large, lawned garden on two levels is surrounded by mature holm oaks and high hedges. The owners wanted to introduce some and colour and texture in the form of low maintenance flower beds and generally create more visual interest. Guided by the proportions of the elegant house, a degree of restrained formality was needed to link the house and garden on the upper level. A long formal border running parallel to the house with low evergreen flowering shrubs is followed by a tidy lavender bordered path that leads to the steps down to the lower lawn. By close cutting the lawn leading from the steps a soft path leads the eye to a gap in the trees giving way to the hidden woodland garden beyond.
An inner, textured boundary was brought about by means of mass planting of various Corus alba and white bark birch against the holm oak backdrop, giving colored leaves in summer and brightly coloured stems in winter. The shaded part of the upper lawn lent itself to a group of well-spaced Japanese Acer trees. A mixed border of flowering plants hugs the contours of the upper boundary extending from a raised kitchen terrace. This gives way to a long, looser structured flowering shrub border in the lower garden. A curved hardwood, freestanding deck was built by landscaper and skilled woodworker, Edd Gorman of Eden Landscapes, to catch the morning sun and give shady afternoon respite.
