I mentioned on an earlier post that I’m working on a garden design project in nearby Knutsford. The garden owner has kindly given permission for me to post some ‘in progress’ pictures, so here goes.

The owner liked the garden that I built at Tatton show with its raised, curved bed, the central seating area and the purple/pink/blue colour scheme. The design has had to be significantly adapted to suit a long, narrow garden with a house at one end and a gate at the other, but I think it’s turning out fine. Implementation has been slow going with weather delays – it was too wet to point last week and it’s now too cold to plant the few shrubs that were going in before spring. So we may have to call a halt until better weather.

Anyway, here’s how it looked when I first visited in late summer:

The central border leaves little space for entertaining and makes the garden look longer and thinner than it is. There are several plant gems though – for example the apple tree on the end wall, a lovely clump of Echinops ritro and a mature Euonymous fortunei on the left hand wall. Our first job will be to dig out all the good plants that can’t stay where they are and take them away for temporary storage. The slabs are good York stone, but uneven and very weed ridden (the brief for the new garden is no weeds between slabs…). We can’t re-use the York stone as there’s just not enough of it. But there is a trade-in market for them so they will be re-cycled.

The two areas nearest the house are quite gloomy, with dark paving slabs and an overgrown ivy blocking much of the light. (There’s a honeysuckle under the ivy that we’re hoping to save). The plan for the narrow strip is to use gravel and a lighter paving on the ground and render and paint the brick wall a paler colour. With the ivy cut back hard it should make a big difference.

And here’s the main part of the garden now, with the structural work almost finished. Key features are the central circular dining area, raised beds and a trellis to screen the gate and proposed shed. The garden looks much more spacious now and the planting will soon soften the hard landscaping lines. I’ll add a photo of the other end when we’ve had a tidy up!

December 13, 2007