Projects

Romney Marsh

Although the garden was well-established and planted, it needed to look extra special for the wedding blessing of the client’s daughter in September. I proposed a newly laid Indian stone terrace to replace the old concrete slabs, with raised brick corner planters containing lavender and new planting. This was to consist of two teardrop-shaped island beds, laid out like Yin and Yang, with a gravel path between to conceal several drain covers.

The rear bed would incorporate an existing Cortaderia, and continue the theme with prairie planting. The front bed would use a rainbow palette starting with a purple smoke bush at one end and swirl through red Fuchsia and Monarda, orange Helenium, pink Sedum to white Cleome and Hydrangea and finish with blue Ceanothus. Some of these colours would be echoed within the grasses in the rear bed. Now planted, it is a stunning riot of colour and form which is perfect for the special occasion.

Tunbridge Wells

This client works from home and her visitors enter through a side gate and descend a flight of steps to access her consulting room. At the side was a rather barren sloping plot, containing poor, sandy soil and bordered by a high Laurel hedge. In addition, a large part of it only receives sun for part of the day so suitable plants had to be carefully considered.

I decided on a muted palette of greens, purples and white and as my client wanted movement, I included a variety of grasses. Before planting began, the plot was thoroughly dug over, enriched with organic matter and bordered with railway sleepers at its lower end. In addition to grasses I included Sedums, prostrate Rosemary, Coneflowers and Catmint, which is flourishing as the cat is now leaving it alone! Three commissioned slate tower sculptures are strategically placed to echo the shapes and colours in the planting.

West Hampstead

“I would like to recreate the Hanging Gardens of Babylon or at least a Moroccan garden, like the one you built at Chelsea” This from a London client who had a tiny roof terrace and an even tinier courtyard. Both were uninspiring, the terrace with uneven quarry tiles that collected water when it rained and a damp and dingy courtyard, decorated with a handful of dead pot plants and a rusting bicycle.

The hanging gardens were a step too far but the Marrakech theme was achievable. We laid larger terracotta tiles in both areas and put up panels with shallow recessed cut-outs to suggest doorways in the courtyard, one with a mirror to reflect the mosaic tiled fountain and make the space seem larger. Willow panels were fixed above a low wall on the roof terrace to shield the houses behind and I commissioned a wrought iron balustrade. Planting was contained in seven large matching blue-glazed pots and custom made tiled planters. Moroccan lanterns and concealed spotlights create a magical atmosphere at night.

Brenchley

In the words of the client, the garden was dull, the lawn weed ridden and apart from an old gnarled apple tree, it had no redeeming features. Therefore, the brief was to make it more exciting and visually stimulating while retaining the apple tree as a feature plus keeping the existing log store.

To mask the dull fence at the rear of the garden I designed a 9 metre long wooden pergola, paved with weathered brick. To link this to the back door of the house, more aged brick would form a serpentine path, with a pond part way along its length. Railway sleepers would be used to edge the lawn where the level dropped by the wood store where decking and a gravel garden would cover an old concrete track. This was later modified to paving and raised beds more in keeping with the clients’ new interest in growing vegetables and herbs.

Annie’s Garden - Cranbrook

This small, established town garden was spoiled by an ugly central area paved with broken concrete slabs. Initially, the client wanted to replace this with Indian sandstone but I suggested instead that she had a lawn, which was more in keeping with the existing planting.

Although unsure at first she soon warmed to the idea. When I produced the drawing showing a curving path, leading from the back of the house, across the lawn and through a rose covered arch to her office at the end of the garden, she was won over. In order to keep the grass dog free, a low chestnut fence and gate were built, separating a decked area, outside the back door, from the garden and the lawn was bordered with toothed brick edging allowing the shrubs and herbaceous plants to tumble over.

Haywards Heath

The garden consisted of a sloping lawn with a steep rockery running along its width and a very overgrown and uneven higher level. A small pond, also overgrow, lay at the left hand end of the rockery with a flight of concrete steps at the right. The client wanted to flatten the lawn and reduce the height of the upper level.

To make the garden more interesting, and to incorporate his interest in trains, I designed a curving railway sleeper path leading to a flight of sleeper steps placed centrally in the re-graded rockery leading to the upper level. A low wall was constructed at the front of the lawn so the removed spoil from the top could be used to even it out. A new butyl lined pond and stone cascade were installed, as was a split chestnut fence at the top of the rockery and a timber pergola with seat, facing south.

Additional images © by Tim Sanderson

My Garden - Benenden

Rather like the cobblers shoes, my garden only gets attention when I’m not busy with other projects. Hence, it is very much “work in progress”.

However, I have had time to make a small shingle area which features one of my bronze sculptures. This also gave me a chance to try out ideas for my Chelsea garden, Shinglesea.

Other features include three arches, one chestnut, covered in honeysuckle and wild hop, another grown from willow, with sleeper and chamomile steps and the third, an arch cut in the hedge, framing a glimpse of the adjoining meadow. Four hens are allowed to roam freely so the planting consist of tough perennials and shrubs which hide their dust baths.