Planting Design

Back Garden Planting Case Study

The hardlandscaping for the back garden for this central London house had already been installed by the owner when we were asked to add planting to the back garden.

There was already some Phyllostachys bamboo to the right-hand side of the bed, along with a Trachycarpus fortunei palm tree further in. The garden was north-east facing and thus only received a limited amount of sun.

An issue to overcome was to hide the backdrop to the bed, which was the slightly unkempt lower canopy of some trees and shrubs at the edge of a neighbour's property.

These would need to be hidden, but without creating a solid tall block of planting that would overpower the space.

Our solution was to take the lead from the existing bamboo and palm, to add some further tropical style architectural planting - some more bamboo on the opposite side of the long bed, and some Dicksonia antartica, Tasmanian tree ferns further in.

The beauty of using tree ferns here, was that their architectural form and large eye-catching leaves, would draw the eye, making the unkempt planting in the garden behind fade away, without blocking it completely.

Their bold form were also ideal for uplighting, and along with the African sculpture, and bamboo, provided a dramatic backdrop to the garden after dark.

These were then underplanted with a mix of shrubs, ferns, perennials and bulbs, to provide a textural, part evergreen scheme, that would also hide the garden backdrop as they grew.

Flowering shrubs and perennials that would be happy in some shade were to provide seasonal interest.

Finally, a number of planters were added at the back of the house and to frame the lovely Lutyens bench, to soften the hardlandscaping.