Garden Tour: A Patchy Plot Gets a Wildlife-rich Redesign
The lawn in this small London garden never looked good, and scrapping it has made for a far more verdant, natural space
A reimagined garden was the clincher that persuaded this family to stay put instead of moving house. Previously, they had a collection of cherished fish living in a leaky pond, mature shrubs that were overwhelming and over-shading the small space, and a patchy lawn, thanks to badly draining clay soil and the lack of light.
“The garden was the main view from inside their house and they wanted it to be lush and beautiful,” recalls garden designer Caroline Clayton of Viriditas Studio, who the owners called on for inspiration. And now? They love their reinvented space, whose highlights include a huge pond bursting with wildlife, Mediterranean colours and loads more planting where the lawn used to be.
“The garden was the main view from inside their house and they wanted it to be lush and beautiful,” recalls garden designer Caroline Clayton of Viriditas Studio, who the owners called on for inspiration. And now? They love their reinvented space, whose highlights include a huge pond bursting with wildlife, Mediterranean colours and loads more planting where the lawn used to be.
Before, the garden had low-level decking and a couple of steps up to the lawn. “We actually increased the level change slightly to allow for the depth of the new pond,” Caroline says.
The pond, just glimpsed here to the left, is now a major feature and spans the full width of the garden. This is made possible by the clever design of what Caroline describes as a “boardwalk” – a plank bridge in warm-toned western red cedar that stretches from the patio to a seating area in the sunniest part of the garden at the far end. The steps are topped in the same timber, with risers in the same terracotta tiles as the patio and kitchen.
The large, honey-coloured boulders replace the original retaining wall, both forming the pond and breaking up the level change. “In city gardens, especially, people don’t often think about places for wildlife to hide and boulders create a brilliant space for small mammals, amphibians and insects,” Caroline says.
The planting behind this area is dry garden planting with free-draining soil. Caroline picked all the new plants to be drought tolerant, and cleverly found ways to retain as much of the existing planting as possible.
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The pond, just glimpsed here to the left, is now a major feature and spans the full width of the garden. This is made possible by the clever design of what Caroline describes as a “boardwalk” – a plank bridge in warm-toned western red cedar that stretches from the patio to a seating area in the sunniest part of the garden at the far end. The steps are topped in the same timber, with risers in the same terracotta tiles as the patio and kitchen.
The large, honey-coloured boulders replace the original retaining wall, both forming the pond and breaking up the level change. “In city gardens, especially, people don’t often think about places for wildlife to hide and boulders create a brilliant space for small mammals, amphibians and insects,” Caroline says.
The planting behind this area is dry garden planting with free-draining soil. Caroline picked all the new plants to be drought tolerant, and cleverly found ways to retain as much of the existing planting as possible.
Easily find and hire garden designers in your area on Houzz.
At the front of the garden, the planting has also been picked to withstand hot summers without much or any watering. “It’s a really drought-tolerant planting scheme,” Caroline says.
Highlights include: Stipa tenuissima (Mexican feather grass); Origanum laevigatum ‘Herrenhausen’ (a bee-friendly, pink-flowering oregano); Rosmarinus officinalis Prostratus Group (a low-growing rosemary); Achillea ‘Terracotta’ (yellow-flowered yarrow); Eryngium bourgatii (thistle-like sea holly), and Erigeron karvinskianus (Mexican fleabane, which forms daisy-like flowers).
“Mexican fleabanes are great filler plants and really help to pull a scheme together,” Caroline says. “They grow anywhere, bees love them and they flower nine months of the year, pretty much.”
Further back, there are two more purple-flowering plants – Liriope muscari and Geranium ‘Rozanne’, as well as Asplenium scolopendrium (hart’s tongue fern).
Amid the new foliage are existing shrubs and trees, including a large fig on the right, an olive on the left and a Photinia that Caroline strategically reshaped.
“The couple had quite a few large shrubs that were taking over the view and adding a lot of shade,” Caroline says. “To be sustainable, we kept a lot of them, but pruned them into multi-stems to make them lighter and also to let more daylight through. It’s nice, rather than just ripping everything out, and also gives you an opportunity to underplant them rather than just having dense shrubs.
“The olive tree is massive,” she continues. “We love keeping bigger trees in the garden and they give a sense of scale that helps to make a city garden feel more natural. I always think that going bigger with a couple of strong elements makes smaller spaces – weirdly – feel bigger.”
Highlights include: Stipa tenuissima (Mexican feather grass); Origanum laevigatum ‘Herrenhausen’ (a bee-friendly, pink-flowering oregano); Rosmarinus officinalis Prostratus Group (a low-growing rosemary); Achillea ‘Terracotta’ (yellow-flowered yarrow); Eryngium bourgatii (thistle-like sea holly), and Erigeron karvinskianus (Mexican fleabane, which forms daisy-like flowers).
“Mexican fleabanes are great filler plants and really help to pull a scheme together,” Caroline says. “They grow anywhere, bees love them and they flower nine months of the year, pretty much.”
Further back, there are two more purple-flowering plants – Liriope muscari and Geranium ‘Rozanne’, as well as Asplenium scolopendrium (hart’s tongue fern).
Amid the new foliage are existing shrubs and trees, including a large fig on the right, an olive on the left and a Photinia that Caroline strategically reshaped.
“The couple had quite a few large shrubs that were taking over the view and adding a lot of shade,” Caroline says. “To be sustainable, we kept a lot of them, but pruned them into multi-stems to make them lighter and also to let more daylight through. It’s nice, rather than just ripping everything out, and also gives you an opportunity to underplant them rather than just having dense shrubs.
“The olive tree is massive,” she continues. “We love keeping bigger trees in the garden and they give a sense of scale that helps to make a city garden feel more natural. I always think that going bigger with a couple of strong elements makes smaller spaces – weirdly – feel bigger.”
Caroline also planted Echinacea ‘White Swan’ (left) and Salvia ‘Amistad’.
“All echinaceas are amazing for pollinators – if you have them in your garden, you’ll have clouds of bees and butterflies,” she says.
“All echinaceas are amazing for pollinators – if you have them in your garden, you’ll have clouds of bees and butterflies,” she says.
High on the brief was also a new seating area to catch the late sun at the back of the garden. Caroline sourced a good-sized, weather-resistant table and chairs set.
In this aerial shot you can see the pond more clearly. The bowl on the far left is a water feature filled with aquatic plants. “It helps with purification and circulation of the water in the pond – and makes a nice noise,” Caroline adds. “I really love the sound of water in city gardens – it really takes you away from the hustle and bustle of city life.
“With ponds, you have to make sure there’s movement to the water and that you’ve included oxygenating plants, otherwise you end up with lots of algae,” she says. “A company called Ecoscape Water Gardens built and installed the pond. They also advised on the right planting balance to make it as easy as possible to maintain.”
The piece of wood coming out of the pond is to allow creatures to get in and out easily. The owners have reported dragonflies and frogs. “It’s amazing how creatures seek out even tiny bits of water,” Caroline says.
Hay Palissade dining set, Skandium.
More: How to Create a Small Wildlife Pond in Your Garden
In this aerial shot you can see the pond more clearly. The bowl on the far left is a water feature filled with aquatic plants. “It helps with purification and circulation of the water in the pond – and makes a nice noise,” Caroline adds. “I really love the sound of water in city gardens – it really takes you away from the hustle and bustle of city life.
“With ponds, you have to make sure there’s movement to the water and that you’ve included oxygenating plants, otherwise you end up with lots of algae,” she says. “A company called Ecoscape Water Gardens built and installed the pond. They also advised on the right planting balance to make it as easy as possible to maintain.”
The piece of wood coming out of the pond is to allow creatures to get in and out easily. The owners have reported dragonflies and frogs. “It’s amazing how creatures seek out even tiny bits of water,” Caroline says.
Hay Palissade dining set, Skandium.
More: How to Create a Small Wildlife Pond in Your Garden
“This is the shady side of the garden, under the fig tree, and this is Euphorbia mellifera,” Caroline says. “I love these euphorbias; they’re evergreen and look really tropical and jungly. They’re very tough plants that work in all sorts of conditions.”
You can just catch a glimpse of some moss, too. Caroline loved being able to salvage plants from the existing garden and took some moss from it to fill gaps between the boulders for a natural look.
You can just catch a glimpse of some moss, too. Caroline loved being able to salvage plants from the existing garden and took some moss from it to fill gaps between the boulders for a natural look.
As well as the mature trees that Caroline pruned, another element that makes it feel so verdant and secluded is the borrowed landscape from the surrounding gardens.
“There was a lot of discussion about whether the ivy behind the fence should come down,” she says, “but everyone decided it was an amazing wildlife habitat – and we also loved the green lushness of it. The lighter bits you can see are the ivy flowers, which bees and other insects absolutely love.”
Either side of the boardwalk, amid the grasses and Echinacea, there’s a flash of crimson in the form of Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’. On the back fence there’s a climbing star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides); this was another retained plant, and Caroline just added two more for balance.
As you can imagine, the owners are delighted with their own little Mediterranean patch in the city.
Tell us…
Which features have inspired you in this city garden redesign? Let us know in the Comments.
“There was a lot of discussion about whether the ivy behind the fence should come down,” she says, “but everyone decided it was an amazing wildlife habitat – and we also loved the green lushness of it. The lighter bits you can see are the ivy flowers, which bees and other insects absolutely love.”
Either side of the boardwalk, amid the grasses and Echinacea, there’s a flash of crimson in the form of Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’. On the back fence there’s a climbing star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides); this was another retained plant, and Caroline just added two more for balance.
As you can imagine, the owners are delighted with their own little Mediterranean patch in the city.
Tell us…
Which features have inspired you in this city garden redesign? Let us know in the Comments.
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Who lives here? A couple and their son
Location Clapton, east London
Property A Victorian terrace
Garden dimensions Around 6m x 12m
Designer Caroline Clayton and her brother, Peter Clayton, of Viriditas Studio; Caroline is responsible for the creative direction and planting plans, while Peter takes on project direction, management and lighting design
Project year 2023
Photos by Alister Thorpe
The owners of this Victorian house decided to get their kitchen and garden done at the same time. When Caroline came on board to design the outside space, they’d already chosen the terracotta kitchen floor tiles and these influenced the look outdoors.
The tiles are suitable for indoor and outdoor use, so Caroline continued the flooring onto the patio, creating a strong visual flow between kitchen and garden. “That was a starting point for the earthy colours,” she says. “We thought we’d try to match the boulders and the wood as well. The family love going on holiday to Ibiza and we wanted something very warm.”
Floor and patio tiles, Bert & May.