skip to main content

Design Dilemma Gardens

Garden design ideas & inspiration - 1 planter or 3? Pleached trees?

2 years ago

We’ve just taken down a garage which opens up the garden. It’s not a huge space but this really makes a difference to the light & feeling of space. I’d like to create more of a proper garden, not just pots which I mostly had before.

The garden faces south west, the soil is poor, dry & stony so will need topping up, there’s now lots of sun light all day.

I’ll turn the back of the old garage space into a built in seating area & am planning to create more interesting greenery to look out on from new large kitchen window, a shaped bed to the left of the garage & possibly a thin one in front of the windows, together with grass, retaining some of the current stones but reducing the area they cover.

.

There will be one long area right along the white wall (wooden gates are moving back in line with house) so I’m currently debating whether creating maybe 3 individual large planters (with possibly 1 / 2 small trees as well as shrubs / possible espalier apple tree, standard hydrangeas, olive, acer (might be too hot) ) rather than 1 long border might work well? Any thoughts are most welcome.

I’m also looking into pleached trees to add at the back to try & distract from the houses behind. This has poor soil & is a little more shady. We can’t hide them but just to add height & disguise a bit . Probably only 1 due to cost of them - has anyone any experience of these? Hornbeam / Beech / Photinia Red Robin perhaps? But I don’t want them to destroy the grass. I’ve heard cherry likes too much water so would effect others nearby.

I like gardening & am looking forward to buying plants but also want it to be a space that my teenagers can come out into to enjoy sitting with book / on screens.

All ideas on layout or plants are much appreciated (non-toxic, cat friendly!)

Comments (3)

Sonia
2 years ago
Looks like a real suntrap, so how about a Mediterranean garden with some fruit trees? Espalier are great as they don’t take up too much room, but my favourite fruit tree for a sunny spot is a Fig tree. They grow very well in the U.K. (my parents had 2 in Herts) and there was loads of fruit. They do grow quite wide but they don’t mind being pruned, although a great bit of shade on a hot day. Other shrubs that will like those conditions are Hibiscus, Cistus, Ceanothus, Choisya, Roses and the climber Star Jasmine. Plants that love the sun and are good for the front of border are Lavender, Nepeta (catmint, loved by cats!), Clematis, Crocosmia, Agapanthus. Herbs love the sun so things like thyme, sage, chives and rosemary. There are lots more but those are ones I’ve successfully grown and I don’t want to bore you with a long list!

Most shrubs prefer growing in the ground. They will be easier to care for and won’t need as much watering than if they are in a pot, but some of the smaller shrubs won’t mind a pot. I have a few shrubs in pots. If you do decide to put some in the ground, add lots of compost or top soil to your soil.

Some of the shrubs you mention don’t do well in the sun and may shrivel, so unless you have a shady spot I wouldn’t include them - Hydrangeas and Japanese Acers. I’ve never had much success with Olive trees as they don’t always cope with our winters, but I know some people do.

I’m not good with design but I did create a small garden on my sunny plot. The big blue shrub is a Ceanothus, evergreen.
Kay
Original Author
2 years ago
Thanks for all your thoughts & plant suggestions Sonia, that’s really helpfully have more ideas. I will add them to my growing list but particularly useful to know what might not do so well here.

The planters on the side would be built in deep ones so as good as planting into the ground for shrubs - I currently have a prunus, skimmia, oleander & bays all in pots but I think by now they’d all prefer to be in the ground properly!

Many thanks again
Related Discussions
New Build - Garden Design Ideas
Q
Comments (3)
Pleached trees in part might look odd, as they're best placed to reinforce a formal layout such as a path or a full length of a boundary. I'd consider a focal tree as it only looks a small landing window. A Birch, Acer, Amelanchier, Prunus or all good small to medium garden trees that you could buy at a reasonable size to start with. The other thing, pleached trees are expensive and need correct staking/guying to keep them in place. A generous patio outside the living room doors provides immediate seating outside the house, whilst a smaller patio area in the NE corner will optimise the evening sun. This then lends itself to an asymmetrical layout but perhaps with a central lawn which the an adjoining path takes you round, The lawn could be oval on a NW - SE axis with paved areas in the NE and SW corners with generous planting to the boundaries to provide a setting to the whole garden and hide the boundaries. Hope that helps. At least you have a blank canvas!
...See More
Garden inspiration for small garden combined with driveway?
Q
Comments (18)
I need to resurrect this thread! So 2 years on we've completed all of the downstairs internal work, and knocked down the garage. We spread some grass seed, and there is now a garden space where once sat the garage. We did have a builder booked in for rebuilding the garage to the side of the house, and planned to add some decking where the patio doors are along the back of the house!/wall maybe, but now the builder has cancelled and is returning our cash, we're therefore reallocating funds to a much needed upstairs bathroom instead. I wonder if there are any budget friendly suggestions and ideas to make an area that will hold gardening tools/provide cover for my partner to do his hobbies by the side of the house? It's a wall then huge hedge beyond that which is directly parallel with a footpath and road on the other side. I thought about a shed but would the hedge not be impossible to cut and would it rot quicker, plus would the roots die off? We need to keep the hedge or have some privacy from the road, but equally need a place to store and use the space at the side. Thoughts?
...See More
Garden design ideas
Q
Comments (9)
Managed to do a few sketches for you. Please bear in mind that I’m not a pro by any means and they’re not to scale, this is just a hobby of mine:) Best thing to do to see if things will fit is use pegs and string. Tried to keep in mind that the ground slopes and I’ve kept the path in most but made it narrower but you don’t have to keep a path if you feel you don’t need it. I did two with tree and two if tree is cut. If the tree does get cut then it will leave a stump so I reckon that the soil level will still be raised around the roots, it does rot eventually tho. Don’t feel like you have to follow any of these designs they’re just to give you some ideas, hope you like:) (And if photos look messed up then click on them for right image, Houzz has been having trouble with images just lately).
...See More
garden design ideas needed
Q
Comments (2)
I would say absolutely get any hard landscaping, large shrubs or trees and garden building such as shed, done before the building work starts. The configuration of our house means we have no direct access to the back garden, so everything has to come through the kitchen. This wasn't a problem before we had the kitchen done, as it was all a bit rough and ready in there. But even so in the past we've had to manhandle a shed over the flat kitchen roof and had to beg access to a neighbour's paddock to lift slabs & a cement mixer over the garden wall. We had some further hard landscaping done when they laid the new drains for the kitchen, along with a couple of trees taken down - which all went through the kitchen before it was done. But the garden is done now and the only things that go through the kitchen now is bagged grass clippings and a bit of bagged garden waste.
...See More
Jayne Johnson
2 years ago
Your garden is going to be lovely. I have pleached trees on my patio for privacy. We dug up pavers and topped up the soil by mixing good compost in the soil in the holes. Don’t just put compost at the bottom of the hole and put the tree on top as the compost can settle and create holes around the roots.

We have used Portuguese laurel as they are evergreen. We planted three, it is expensive but definitely worth it. The main thing is making sure in the first couple of years they get enough water to establish well. Also make sure they are staked well so they don’t move too much in the wind. We built a bamboo cane support between the trees and I’m training the branches along the frame.

Good luck with your garden.

Sign Up to Comment

Sponsored

More Discussions

What to do with my loft space?

6

what goes with red and black quarry tile flooring

10

How can I make this wall look less bare?

13

Too much blue. what other color is right here?

7

Underfloor heating dilemma

4

United Kingdom

Tailor my experience with cookies

Houzz uses cookies and similar technologies to personalise my experience, serve me relevant content, and improve Houzz products and services. By clicking ‘Accept’ I agree to this, as further described in the Houzz Cookie Policy. I can reject non-essential cookies by clicking ‘Manage Preferences’.