As with the best kind of secret garden, the raw materials just needed teasing out: rusting urns were found in the undergrowth, ready to be reconditioned and painted black; and a second magnolia, previously hidden in the shrubbery, became a focal point.
Downstairs, the view is mainly evergreen. A retaining wall, built at a comfortable height for sitting, is flanked by generously proportioned steps built from the stone originals. Being rather narrow, the treads were deepened at the rear with planting pockets; Soleirolia soleirolii (mind-your-own-business) creeps over the stone, easily confined in this arrangement.
Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae and clipped yew set off a found urn.
alister thorpe
The client’s brief was to preserve the atmosphere of an old town garden but also to open it up – bringing greenery closer to the house through the year, as well as a crescendo of blossom in spring and more low-key flowers in early summer. Above the retaining wall, a slope is informally planted with ferns mixed with rounded Asarum europaeum and Muehlenbeckia complexa (maidenhair vine). Flowers are white, edited down to Allium ‘Mont Blanc’ in spring and Anemone x hybrida ‘Honorine Jobert’ in the autumn.
Further into the L-shaped garden, paving gives way to a steel-edged gravel path. This turns a corner into a private area, hidden behind a high wall – hung with mosaics and a young wisteria – and sheltered by the wide canopy of a fourth Prunus x yedoensis. Throughout, furniture is kept simple. By the microfootball- pitch lawn there is a bespoke oak bench, created by a sawmill in Sussex, while comfortable seating from Indian Ocean is arranged around the firepit. Out of season and without their cushions, the shapes of the wooden chairs are pleasantly transparent. In this very secluded space, Rosa glauca is ranged along a brick wall, combined with R. ‘The Generous Gardener’ and climbing R. ‘Albertine’. In adjacent areas of sun or shade, the planting palette remains muted. Tulips are followed by martagon lilies in dark reds and pinks, with flashes of clarity from Tulipa ‘Spring Green’ and the early Erythronium ‘Pagoda’.
Two elegant magnolias were liberated from an overgrown shrubbery.
alister thorpe
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