designing small gardens

Making the most

of a small space
Small gardens need big ideas: tall plants to tower above us,
confident division of space and carefully selected materials.
Designer Sarah Price takes a critical look at three designs to
examine what elements can transform a tight urban space
PHO~OGRAPHS

WORDS SARAH PRICE

MAAYKE DE RIDDER/STEVEN WOOSTER

Garden 1 designed by Carolien Barkman

Su1>lle contr adictions are at \\ 0 rk htTt. Cool

T he thin hair line bel\\ ten each zinc pan el

and Sl)'lish, the plan ting and hard lan dscaping

is a fu rther satisf)' in g linea r detail.

The b alance beh, ten all th e e letnents of

are ar ran ged according to a Strict g rid.

playfully broken up by planting laid out like
an unfinished Scrabble board. I can irnagin e
1n yseJ( as a child, hoping O\'er the gree-n

carpets ol Soltirolia sofeirolii and skipping

along the Ooating \\'OOden walkwa)'S..
The (i\'e-storty apartrnent building and
tall.ex.istingAcu pstutloplrttrt"us cast this
garden in shad e )'tt the b lue-grey tones o f the

colour paleue 1nake the space appear larger

and brighter than it really is. T he cool tones ol
the concrete pavers. painted rendered walls

the garden is perfect Vv'ood in troduces

, .,annth in to th e space. The slau ed garden
fu rn iture a nd floating wooden \\ alkways add
1

d epth to the garden coin position. The

, .,alk\\'ays are placed 20cnl above g round
level and the slats are spaced 10 a lJO\'I
glin1pses of Soleirolin soltirolii an d Asar11111
turop(feu,,, grO\\'ing beneath . Such d etail is
every\\' here. T he concrete c urbstones have
an organ ic) p iued texture th at contrast "'ith
a lternating rec-tan gles of low evergreens:

and zinc cladding seamlessly b lend with Lhe

Luzu/t, syli'nticn, S"xifrnsn x urbi11111 an d the

fabric o f Lhe apar L1n e nL, effectively offseuing

setni-evergreen Ger1u1iun1 n1ncrorrhiz11111

(Spfflart~ T his variation of leaf fornl is

Lhe verdant green planLingso Lha1 ii Lakes

centre stage. The zinc pan els a re a beautifu l,

extend ed across th e garden fro1n 1he d elicate

sophis1icated lake on cladding, their soft

d over-like leaves of Oxnlis "cetosell" var.

sheen reflects light back in to the space. They

rosea> th riving beneath th e acer, to the bold.

paddle-like leaves of Astilbaides tnbul"ris.

d o not shout. instead Lhe)' uniJ)' Lhe space.

Key elements of the design

1 Zinc cladding softly reflects light into t he shady space. Cladding is invaluable fO( hiding ugly

boundar.esand slructu(es. and needn't be expensive. Salvaged \VOOd cladding is ve'y on trend.
2 The imag inative comp osit ion of plant s and hard mat erials creat e-s a year round picture.
The dimensions ot the paving units dictate the ground pattern and set up a play o f repetition
ac(OSS the space. This geometry 1s reflecled rn the propo(tions and lines o f the \VOOden
walkways. furniture and panelled cladding.
3 Textural cont rast in pla.nt forms. A ca(eful selection o f shade loving plants C(eales a green
piclure throughoul the ~a(. F1neleaved tussock grasses contrast with the hea(tshaped leaves
of Ep1'med1um arand1florum 'Album and gr'1ceful ferns. such as Potystiehum sellferum .Aruncus
'HO(atio: Lunarw ilr)/'lua var. afb1flora, Meconops1's CtJmbriciJ compktte the gfeen pictu(e, \vh1le
bulbs Alltum ntarum and Nectarosc0rdum s1culum subsp.t>ufBariCum bring fu(the( highlights.

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