Courtyard Garden

Posted by Amanda on Nov 30, 2010 in Courtyard garden, Projects | 0 comments

The design and hard landscaping had already been completed in this jewel of a garden, and I was asked to design a planting scheme to bring it to life.  Four mature trees mark the boundary and the garden has beautiful views over an open park.

I took my clients to Europlants and as we dodged the showers, we selected trolley after trolley of magnificent plants. When we first spoke about underplanting, my clients imagined traditional, low, ground cover plants and were really shocked when I showed them 1.2m high phormiums on our nursery visit.   They are completely bowled over with the finished effect; these magnificent Phormium tenax variegatum planted between the roots of established sycamore trees, really add drama to the garden.  They’re planted away from the fence and as light to travels down the length of the leaves, it lifts and balances shape and mass of the tree trunks and boundary.

Lightweight black terrazzo planters from Cadix with 4mm white Nordic spar stones to finish the look, feature scented Trachelospermum jasminoides and  Festuca glauca.  We gave purple leaved Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’ the same treatment in matching black terrazzo pots, moodily set against a dark fence. Then we planted single snowdrops, purple crocus and another really pretty dark purple crocus and white flashes called Spring Beauty, Iris recticulata Pauline – also very delicate and a plummy purple, and the yellow, early flowering daffodil Narcissus February Gold. Bulbs are really easy plants and always such a delight to see as winter turns into spring.

The garden is viewed from the conservatory and with garden lighting and an irrigation system installed, the result is a low maintenance garden that can be enjoyed all year round.