Garden design, garden planning, garden layout, planting plants and planting schemes

Low Maintenance Garden Design

Posted on April 21st, 2009

 As is so often the case with designing in small spaces, the big big challenge is drawing a balance between looking good but yet having sufficient space in which to enjoy it. Recently I had the pleasure and opportunity to return to a garden which we had designed and built almost two years ago. The clients I am delighted to say are still very happy, in fact they say they love the garden! As do their two beautiful young children! So it was very good that I had this opportunity because it also helped me to correct an earlier oversight when I had forgotten to take any photos of the project when it was completed.  

By way of background, the site is located in an old Dublin suburb near the sea, a period house would describe the external architecture, but the clients had been planning a major refurrbishment to completely re-model and modernise the interiors. I was invited at a very early stage even before the architect had completed his designs, to meet the clients (well technically at the time they would have been ‘prospective clients’)  and discuss posssibities and potential for designing the garden.

In essence they were seeking a garden which would be more contemporary than traditional, low maintenance and would be family friendly, plants were also to be child (very young) friendly but appealing to adults, and also be bold but space efficient. The new building design had effectively split the garden area into two sub sections. The main garden area was to be the lawn area where parents and children would play and the second area would be the location for the patio for  socialising with family and  friends. The architect had designed the boundary of the interior and exterior in a such a clever but effective way whereby the garden was fully visible from anywhere from the back of the house. The house was south facing so was getting plenty of daytime sunshine but had some intrusive details and required more privacy (as the before photos illustrate). Also what is not apparent from the ‘before’ photos is that a significant chunk of the original garden area would be lost to the new house layout putting more pressure on the layout of the garden design.  A further point worth noting was that the boundary walls were in very poor condition and it was agreed that with the exception of the old rubble/limestone wall on the east side which was to be tidied up but retained, the other boundary walls would be demolished, rebuilt and the sand & cement rendered finish would be painted in a light tone to reflect the proposed interior style and colour scheme and simultaneously provide a distinct contrast with the rubble wall. 

This design project made an early but strong case for utilising a stone which would discreetly reflect the characteristics of the new architectural style but expressed in a bright but confident style. Large floor to ceiling high glazed panels created a seamless transition from garden to house and plenty of potential to observe a ‘panoramic’ view of the garden areas.  The split between play and patio areas was also emphasised by the juxtapositioning of both areas. In order to create the illusion of more space all planting was selected for locating in Raised Planting Beds with the  key advantage that such planting would be more visible but also easier to maintain.  For impact , some very attractive Architectural specimens including chamerops, trachycarpus as well as some topiary examples of ligustrum were used. Low level planting featured Acorus Ogon, Euonymus emerald gold, Convolvulus cneorem and Hebe Heartbreaker.  Lighting was discreet but evident as was the ‘S’ shaped Stainless Steel Water feature. The stone selected for the paving (patio and pathway) areas etc was granite, with the additional bonus that it made an ideal material for use as capping stone for both the new Boundary walls as well as the Raised Planting Beds. A selection of photos show some key features, and note that this is the garden, two years later! 

View of Rear wall.

In my opinion the garden looks every bit as fresh today as it did two years ago and I will be confident that it will continue to look well. One of the clients made  avery interesting comment about how little effort was required to keep the garden in shape. She said “it take such little effort, I sometimes forget to do it”.  Now that’s what I’d call low maintenance. I’m particularly proud of this project because it illustrates simply but effectively, that it is possible to mix classic and modern styles in such a way and in a comparitively small sized modern sub-urban garden. The results speak for themselves, despite the rather simple layout, each area has some uniqueness but yet at the same time share a common style/identity. They also meet the functional requirements of the owners and various users. In design terms the overall impression is modern and emphasised by the colour and materials used. The owners lifestyle is probably typical of young modern Irish families,  which love the garden not so much perhaps for the planting, yes of course they are important but  rather the overall enjoyment and satisfaction comes from I suppose of the time spent in the garden with their  young children or entertaining with friends.  It is very often this sense of achievement, helping clients get more fun, get more use from the outdoor space, which makes us feel privileged but fortunate to be landscapers. Good garden design is not just about nice looking aesthetics but getting more fun and use from this critically important aspect of our living space.