Inspirational Gardens part 2 (sort of!)

by Rachel Mathews

Cambridge University Botanic Garden

Best laid plans

Don’t you just love it when you have a really good idea, one that will undoubtedly be helpful and inspiring for people but there’s a small technical glitch that throws a spanner in the works? Well, I’ve discovered a bit of a glitch with this particular monthly feature on inspirational gardens and the people behind them.

The first one I choose, the wonderful Veddw garden in South Wales, was an easy choice; great garden, lots of accessible photographs and it proved to be very popular. During my interview with Anne Wareham, I asked her to pick the next Inspirational Garden. She’s picked an absolute cracker, trouble is this garden isn’t so accessible. It’s a private garden, one that is open to viewing by arrangement. There is no website, very few photographs online and I’ve not had any luck getting hold of the owner when I’ve phoned! With Veddw, there were so many photographs, I felt like I’d been there. Not the case with this garden.

Gardening flesh

I’ve seen enough photographs to be thoroughly intrigued by Anne’s choice but not enough pictures that make me feel I could do it justice writing about it. So there’s only one thing for it – I need to go and visit it and see for myself how a garden has been constructed using just two main plants. There are other plants in the garden but two plants dominate the design.

Not that I’m a complete tease or anything, but I’m not going to reveal which garden Anne chose just yet. I will give you a clue, though; it’s in Swansea. As soon as I’ve visited it, I will tell you all about it.

Something a little closer to home

Grass Maze - Cambridge Botanic Garden

Instead, I’m going to show you a garden that’s close to my heart. Having moved to Cambridge last year, I do love to hang out at the Botanic garden. The photograph above shows part of their dry garden. Although Cambridge has lots of open green spaces (one of the many reasons I love living here) my favourite is definitely the botanic garden. On sunny afternoons, when I’m finished designing for the day, I pop over with my camera, treat my self to a nice big slice of cake and then wander around the garden taking photos for my plant design album.

Cambridge University Botanic Garden, like most botanic gardens, it is more plant focused than design orientated, there are some areas that have been well-designed and a lot of thought has gone into the planting schemes. The Botanic garden is situated on a 40 acre site, right in the city centre, though it doesn’t feel that large. It’s a great place to visit if you are looking for plants and trees to inspire you for your garden. I particularly love how they use grasses in the herbaceous borders. There is a nice mix of traditional and modern influences throughout the garden.

Stipa calamagrostis - Cambridge botanic garden

Where do you suggest?

I’d like to visit lots of great gardens this year. I’m looking forward to doing this. I used to visit gardens all the time when I first qualified, so I’ve done the usual ones like Sissinghurst, Hestercombe and Hidcote. Veddw, of course, is already on my list for the summer. I’d also love to visit less well known gardens. What other suggestions do you have? Do email me or leave a comment if you have a suggestion. Doesn’t just need to be UK gardens; I’m happy to go further afield in search of glorious gardens.

A view of Cambridge

For those that aren’t familiar with Cambridge here are some of my favourite views.

'The Backs' Cambridge

King's College Cambridge

Roll on summer…

Fancy a punt?

Fancy a punt?

  Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2010

{ 4 comments }

BIG ideas for roof gardens [part 2]

by Rachel Mathews

In last week’s blog post we looked at how to tackle a tiny courtyard garden for reader Rachel Scott. This week we are going to look at the second part of Rachel’s question – what to do with a small roof terrace. Plus look out for the special announcement at the bottom of the page…

Most of the design tips below will also be applicable for small town gardens and walled courtyard gardens, not just roof terraces.

Photograph courtesy of Simon Leonard

Well, the first thing you need to think about with any roof terrace is the structural integrity. And if you require permission to turn the space into a garden in the first place. We’ll assume all is fine on that front, in this instance.

How much weight can it hold?

The answer to that question dictates where you start. If there are no weight issues, you can use almost any building materials (it is sensible not to use excessively heavy materials) and build retaining walls with built in seats and planters. If their are weight concerns, then only place planters and other heavier objects in areas that are load bearing (usually the outer edges). Use lightweight materials. But before you do anything call out a structural engineer to advise you on what you can and can’t do.

How to use the space

As much I have have grown to hate the expression ‘outside room’, this is how you should think of a roof garden. Thinking of it as a room will help you utilise the space properly. In a tiny space like this one (3m x 2m), Rachel’s next job, once she has worked out what she can do weight wise, is to work out what space she needs to function in.

Like planning any other type of landscaped garden, you need to decide the use of the area. Are you going to have a seating area? How are you going to access it? Where is the best location to be in, or to avoid the sun? Once you’ve worked out what you want to do, you are halfway there. If you have a chair and table, set them up and see how much space you have left. If it’s not much, would it be better to build a planter with a seat built in to save on space?

You need to find the right balance between function and looks. Areas need a certain amount of empty space so that they don’t feel cluttered. This is critical to your success. ‘Less is more’, as they say (I vow one day to come up with an alternative phrase).

Use the walls

In any garden, the boundary can be used to your advantage. But in a tiny roof space, you must make the walls your best friend. If you have an interesting exterior wall, one that indents, is it possible to render and paint sections? Perhaps certain parts lend themselves to some outdoor art? Is it possible to attach a canopy on the wall to pull across on inclement weather days?

Get arty

Going back to the ‘outdoor room’ theme, dress the walls like you would for an interior but with about half to a third less stuff. If you are a clutter monkey, make that an two-thirds less! A carefuly positioned ornament or some candles on an exterior shelf blends the inside and outside spaces. Exterior art can be used effectively too. A fairly inexpensive way to create some outdoor art if you aren’t an artist is to get some Ikea canvases and paint them with exterior or yacht varnish, front and back, two to three coats. They won’t last forever but will add that finishing touch to your roof garden.

As well as thinking about how to use every bit of space from the floor to the walls. Also think about the views beyond. Frame the best parts of the view, disguise and hide the parts that don’t look good. If all the views are wonderful, you may still need a windbreak to make the sitting areas more comfortable. Screens like the one shown in the photo above work well or dense planting can sometimes be enough if the area is not overexposed.

Getting the right plants

And of course no garden would be truly complete without the plants. Think very carefully about what you put in; will it survive windier and colder conditions (if on an exposed terrace), for example? Pick plants that look good all year round and can cope with some neglect. By neglect I don’t mean to cast aspersions on your gardening skills or commitment. It’s just a fact that a plant grown in a pot suffers much quicker than one planted in the ground with more soil to support it.

Hopefully that has given Rachel some ideas for her Sydney roof terrace and you as well for your garden.

*Announcement* – New garden design course opening soon!

If you want to learn more about how you can design your garden (yard), the Beginner’s Course will be opening up for students again in a couple of week’s time. There are only two online design courses run a year, if you want to take part in this one then do put your email address in the early bird notification list on the course information page. I’m only able to take on twenty students at a time and there are already ten on the waiting list of people that didn’t get on the last course.

The people on the early bird list will be notified ahead of everyone else about new courses and they will be the first to access any ‘limited number’ promotional offers. So make sure you are on the list!

Future blog posts

So what areas of your garden/landscape are you struggling with? If you’d like some advice, leave a comment in the box below and you may just see a blog post written about it in the near future!



  Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2010

Tagged as: courtyard garden, garden, Garden Design, garden ideas, landscape design, landscape gardening, landscaped gardens, roof garden, roof terrace

{ 4 comments }

What makes a great garden?

by Philip Voice

What makes for good garden design? It’s such a subjective topic…although one should not ignore strong technical elements. Consumer garden needs are always changing which means that the ‘design sands are always shifting’. Here are just a few thoughts on what is needed to make a good garden great….writes guest blogger Philip Voice.

I am not too sure that any single aspect of a garden’s design makes any particular garden great.

Sure, there are elements that a garden designer should be keen to retain, manipulate or work with when fashioning any space to suit the needs of the client, but nothing should ever be so rigid as to hold back on expression. An experienced garden designer will use instinct and experience: experienced design development, is not even a conscious effort.

Working with your natural landscape

The existing lie of the land must always be a strong consideration – especially if the garden is large enough to retain natural slopes and contours: aspect and light must be used and I think that the very best of garden design occurs when the designer’s instinct comes before contrivance – the latter is only relied on when other aspects of the design won’t fall into place naturally.

A garden designer’s initial thoughts must be simple: access to parts of the garden have to be created using a desire line mentality. If a desire line is not feasible, creating a physical barrier so as not to create blockage, but gently lead the garden user or wanderer is the next consideration – creating rigid angles or obstacles only serve to annoy will cause upset.

Creative collaboration

Maybe the very best of garden designers can pour emotion into the space that they are designing? Many designers will ask a client for a list of their requirements…others can introduce elements based on what life is being lived around the environment the garden is to be created in.

Philip Voice is a life long professional gardener turned blogger and the author of Landscape Juice and founder of the professional industry site, the Landscape Juice Network. I hope you’ll take a look at his wonderful websites and forum which celebrated getting 1000 members last week!

If you are wondering why Philip didn’t mention plants making a garden great, then this blog post on cake will explain why!

Soon, Successful Garden Design will be launching a competition – The Great Garden Challenge, read this for further information. And come and take part!

What are your thoughts on what makes a garden great?

  Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2010

Tagged as: Garden Design, Garden plan, great garden, landscape design

{ 4 comments }

BIG ideas for tiny gardens [part 1]

by Rachel Mathews

After all the excitement of last week’s Great Garden Challenge, this week we are coming back to looking at the more practical aspects of garden (yard) landscaping. There is always a lot written about how to tackle small gardens but what do you do if you have a really small garden? This was a question posed to me by one of our readers, Rachel Scott.

Rachel lives in Sydney, Australia and has two tiny outside spaces she wants to landscape; a very small courtyard on the ground floor and a small deck on the second floor.

A good discipline

You could almost say that a tiny garden is like micro-gardening. And in any micro environment every element is critical. Truth be told, every element in any garden is critical but on a micro scale you can see everything in one go, so it’s obvious if you make a mistake. With larger spaces you can disguise things, lead the eye where you want it to go. Not so easy in a tiny space.

Front garden before landscaping

Before we get going, lets define tiny – Rachel’s main garden is 3 x 2m (nearly 10 x 6.5ft). I have only designed one garden that small before and that was for the front of my first house. As you can see from the picture, it was pretty uninspiring. I wanted somewhere to grow herbs and vegetables as I didn’t want them in the back garden.

I’d like to tell you that the design I came up with was inspired by lots of creative yearnings but it wasn’t. I was on a very tight budget of nothing, having not long moved in. I had a few paving slabs left over from the back garden and was given a mix of free samples and cobbles my father had tucked away. I laid out this odd collection of stone and then worked out how I could use it all on paper. I wouldn’t recommend anyone design like this as it isn’t the best method, but needs must sometimes.

The photo below shows the finished result. Virtually all the plants were edible except for the phormium and wisteria. The bays either side of the front door were covered in a wicker pyramid that grew runner beans in the summer. In the tubs I grew lettuce, carrots and onions and a sweet grapevine up the wall, it was a very productive tiny front garden!

Front garden after landscaping

What materials should you have in your garden?

Ideally, what I should have done was to choose my materials very carefully. I have a rule I tend to follow of no more than three different hard-landscaping materials. Which I did stick to here (gravel, paving & granite cobbles) but I think just two in such a tiny space would have worked better because it would be less fussy.

When you choose your materials they can either contrast with the environment or compliment it. The materials here all have a yellow tinge and therefore compliment the yellow of the front door. Had I used a dark limestone or slate, it would have created contrast.

Be careful choosing dark colours in small spaces, especially if you are low on light. It will make the area look darker and smaller if you are not careful.

Big isn’t always best!

If you use small sizes paving or cobbles, the area will look much larger. Your eyes will see the quantity which tricks the brain into thinking the area is larger than it is. Test it. On the photograph above, blot out the paving slabs with your fingers and then notice how much longer the cobble path to the front door looks without the paving at the sides to dictate the scale.

Go easy on the planting

Again, not a rule I’ve followed here because I had a very specific use for the space – I wanted as many edible things as possible. This was essentially a herb and vegetable patch that needed to look pretty because it was at the front of the house. Had I been designing it purely for aesthetics, I would have been much more careful with the number of plants.

As a rule of thumb, I tend to find in a landscape setting, two-thirds empty space to one-third mass, which can be plants or vertical features, works well. If you study the photo you will see its got too many plants and isn’t as comfortable to look at if I’d used slightly less. I got away with it because the plants are small and there is enough contrast between them that doesn’t swamp the eye.

The most important thing with tiny gardens…

Everything must earn its place. Every single thing you put into the garden must look good all year round and be in the right place. Just because a garden is tiny, you can still be bold and brave but you must keep things simple.

Hopefully that has given Rachel some ideas about her courtyard, but what about the roof garden? We will look at the ins and outs of tiny roof spaces next week in part 2.

Window boxes aside, what is the smallest space you’ve tried to create a garden in and what problems did you experience?

A special guest coming soon!

Between now and then, I’m delighted to tell you that on Monday 1st March there will be a guest post from Philip Voice of Landscape Juice. In response to my mention last week of the upcoming launch of The Great Garden Challenge, Philip is going to share his thoughts on what makes a great garden. If you want to sign up for your free information pack (which is coming soon) enter your email address in the box below.

To find out more about The Great Garden Challenge and get your FREE Great Garden Roadmap.

Enter your email address in the box below and I’ll send your free guide as soon as it’s ready.

I will not pass on your email address or spam you!

We respect your email privacy

  Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2010

Tagged as: front garden, front yard, Garden Design, landscape design, small front garden, tiny gardens

{ 3 comments }

Does it take a carrot or a stick to produce a great garden?

Someone kindly (?) referred to this website as “porn for garden lovers.” As much as l laughed at that, it has made me think; are people just ogling and not actually doing? I want this to be a useful resource where you can come and get the tuition you need (move on from the porn [...]

11 comments Read the full article →

Why I think you can create a better garden than a designer

I admit that is a statement I was never expecting to make. I’ve been designing gardens professionally for the last eighteen years. It’s how I earn my living. I charge people a fee to convert their ideas and lifestyle aspirations into a beautiful garden. So, why after so many years in the business have I [...]

9 comments Read the full article →

Inspirational Gardens and the people behind them [part 1]

We are getting back to gardens this week after the frivolity of last week’s Honest Scrap Award. This is the first of a new monthly-ish feature on inspirational gardens. I’ve chosen this first one to get the ball rolling, then all subsequent gardens are chosen by the person I’ve interviewed, which should, I hope, make [...]

9 comments Read the full article →

The Honest Scrap Award!

If this is your first time visiting this blog – don’t read this post! This one is just a lark around and won’t really help you with your garden. Read this post instead – why there is more to a great garden than plants.
Ok in last week’s blog post on modern contemporary gardens I said [...]

10 comments Read the full article →

Ideas for your garden – gallery 3 Modern Contemporary Gardens

In last week’s ideas for your garden gallery we featured a selection of more traditional styles of garden with a heavy emphasis on plants.
This week’s gallery, the last in this series, is the complete opposite of last week’s style of garden and focuses primarily on modern contemporary styles. These types of garden tend to have [...]

3 comments Read the full article →

Ideas for your garden – gallery 2

More ideas for your garden
Last week featured the first of three galleries of ideas for your garden. The Beginner’s Ideas Gallery featured gardens that are designed using simple geometric shapes like circles, squares and ovals.
Moving up a gear
The gardens featured in this gallery are more complex than those shown in the Beginner’s level. Some of [...]

2 comments Read the full article →

← Previous Entries