VICTORIA PARK

Project Brief: ​

Re-furbish this city garden to reflect the tastes of the current owner. Remove existent shrub planting that had grown too big in order to 'open up' the space. Replace with cool, low maintenance planting to create a calm atmosphere. ​

 

This project came originally as a planting design, however as concepts unfurled it seemed right to make some adjustments to existent hard landscaping to create a different feel to the space.

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The mid 20th century house architecture lent the garden to asiatic-style planting. Towards the house horizontal lines from a small Japanese acer tree mixed with evergreen mounds of clipped box, and strong visual uprights of bamboo. This took the planting away from a cottage garden style that had existed before, towards a contemporary palette of leaf form and texture.

 

This strong geometry was balanced by the introduction of a new garden bed towards the rear of the garden - cut out of the existing slate paving. This space was dedicated to creating a woodland effect with ornamental grasses and the inclusion of a number of wedge-shaped Purbeck stone boulders. They soften and elevate this garden, anchoring the woodland planting and providing a visual foil for the plants around it. They play an important function by occupying space that was otherwise impossible to plant due to the roots of the neighbouring mature Ash and Tulip tree. Silver linings....

 

Video Credit: Adam Azmy