Advice
Garden design & redesign
A Simple Guide to Garden Planning
by silver medal winning garden designer Mary Newstead
Choosing a Style
Many people think that only large gardens need to be designed but in fact, the smaller the area, the more it needs to be planned in order to maximise its potential. But before choosing a style, first consider your location and how you want to use your garden.
Location, location, location
Unless you have a large garden, most designs are influenced by the plot’s limitations. A long thin garden, for example, lends itself to being divided into compartments although it would be a mistake to simply cut it across from side to side, which would be restrictive and uninteresting. A simple way is to incorporate a winding path that runs right through the garden, using plants to block the view from one end to the other or you could use an open trellis that is planted with climbers. These techniques give the impression of reducing the length while allowing you to catch glimpses of the rest of the garden through the spaces, avoiding the end result of a solid division.
If you are planning a small town garden, you will be influenced by surrounding buildings and by how much your space is overlooked. Your choice of plants too will be determined by how much light is available - town gardens can be heavily shaded by overhanging trees or neighbouring buildings or it might be a sun trap that becomes too hot at times, so you may need to create some shade. Here you will want to keep your design simple - maybe an extension of your living or dining room, where meals can be eaten al fresco under a pergola covered in vines for both shade and privacy.
In the country, your space will be more relaxed and possibly you will only design the area close to the house, leaving the garden beyond to blend into the landscape, which you can ‘borrow’ to give the appearance of it being a part of your garden. This is most easily achieved by camouflaging the fence with planting to give the impression that it merges with the view beyond. You could also consider lowering the fence to increase the view. If, on the other hand, your vista is unattractive and your garden is overlooked by other houses, you can create privacy by screening with trees and shrubs or a pergola, while still leaving gaps here and there to allow a glimpse of any attractive scenery that may exist. The picture below demonstrates a garden that drifts off into the surrounding countryside.
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Hampton Court 2002, John Ruttledge & Rachel Hardwick ‘Henry Weston’s Garden’ |
Function
While plants are an essential part of any design so too is the layout, which should take into account its paths, changes of level, seating areas, access points and storage facilities, which should all be assessed in relation to the house to create a unified garden layout. Bear in mind also that if you have young children, the demands on the garden will change as they grow. You might want to incorporate a sand pit for example, but think ahead and build it in such a way that it can easily be transformed into a pond later when the children have grown up and water is no longer considered a hazard. You can use the excavated soil to create a change of level somewhere else in the garden - just one step can dramatically alter the look of your space, making it feel bigger - or you could incorporate it into raised beds, which will not only make gardening easier but will add height and lift the plants away from ground level where they could be in danger of being damaged by passing bicycle wheels and other children’s toys.
You will probably want an area for essentials like dustbins, compost, a shed and a washing line. Usually these items are stuck at the back of the garden - more often as an after-thought - but how will you gain access to them? The direct route across the lawn? The downside here is that in time you will wear a patch in the lawn, which in winter will become a muddy path. You could lay stepping stones across the grass but how about creating a path - wide enough to take a wheelbarrow comfortably - that runs down the side of the garden next to the boundary wall or fence. This can be screened off with shrubs, a hedge, or even a line of evergreen bamboo which can be extended across the garden at the back, keeping the access and the utility area hidden from view and leaving the main garden completely enclosed and free of unsightly necessities. This idea would also work if you want to include an area designated to vegetables.
Here I would like to give you a tip - when it comes to choosing a shed where you intend to keep bicycles, deckchairs, lawnmower, bags of compost, pots and tools, double the size of your first choice because it will not be big enough. Believe me; I’ve seen so many people under-estimate the size of shed they need, realising immediately they come to use it that not everything they wanted to store in it will actually fit.
Many of the gardens we see at flower shows these days tend to use hard landscaping - paving, granite sets, decking, shingle and the like - and these materials are perfect for small spaces where a lawn is not a suitable medium. But even if you have a large garden with room for a decent sized lawn, you will still want to consider these materials as you will undoubtedly want to include a terrace for entertaining, dining al fresco and the ubiquitous barbeque. Don’t skimp on the size of such a terrace though as you need to allow enough space not only for a table and chairs but also enough room for the chairs to be pulled out to allow you sit at the table - you don’t want your guests to fall into the flower borders!
Styles
Now that you have considered all the elements you want to include in your newly designed garden, you need to think about style. If you are a working couple with limited time to do any gardening, a formal or chic style may be the answer, with paving instead of grass, raised beds, evergreens and topiary in containers.
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Chelsea 2003, Brinsbury College Students’ Courtyard Garden ‘Transition’ |
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Tatton Park 2002, Nicholas J Boult’s ‘The Modern Structured Garden’ |
A high maintenance, informal rustic cottage garden, on the other hand, would not be the right choice as it will be very demanding.
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Chelsea 2003, HMP Leyhill ‘No time to stand and stare’ |
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Chelsea 2003, Yorkshire Forward ‘Yorkshire alive with opportunity’ |
Do you want to include water? If so, would you like it be a formal or informal pond?
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Hampton Court 2002, Federation of British Aquatic Society ‘Water Magic’ (informal water) |
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Chelsea 2003, The Lladro Show Garden ‘Sensuality’ (formal water) |
Consider the shape of your garden - is it long and thin or rectangular? Does it have different levels? Maybe it’s a basement garden or a country house. Is it an enclosed courtyard garden? Is it a banked garden, a seaside location, split level, square or a corner site?
As mentioned in the first article, look at garden magazines for inspiration and visit flower shows. You may recognise some of the images used in this article as they have all been taken from gardens exhibited at the major RHS shows either this year or last. Below are more examples that demonstrate some of the elements I have been discussing. If you didn’t manage to visit any shows this year, you can still view the gardens on this website where you will also be able to read about each garden - materials used and the inspiration behind the designs. But do bear in mind that they are show gardens so you will need to use your imagination to visualise some of them as part of a larger scheme as well as small gardens in their own right.
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Chelsea 2003, The Merrill Lynch Garden – high maintenance herbaceous borders |
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Hampton Court 2002, Woking Borough Council ‘A Green Haven’ – low maintenance city garden |
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Hampton Court 2003, Geoffrey Whiten ‘The Leisure Garden’ – family garden |
Tatton Park 2002, Alan Gardner/Brookside Garden Centre, ‘Brooksides Garden of Life’ – four gardens for different needs:
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The Single Person |
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The Professional Couple |
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The Couple with a Child |
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The Retired Couple |