Case Study – Re-design & Maintenance
Client Brief:
Undertake a multi-year programme of renovation to breathe life into two large areas of garden to the front and back of the house. Bring areas of the garden ‘under control’, define a new planting schema appropriate for a heavy clay soil and instigate a subsequent maintenance programme across the whole garden.
Outcome:
- Definition of a new integrated planting schema agreed with the client across approximately 100 m2 of existing heavy clay soil beds. Plants chosen for their architectural impact and appropriateness of a ‘winter wet / summer dry’ soil using a white and purple palate.
- All beds dug to 60cm to break up the soil and start the process of soil re-generation through the addition of 4 m3 of organic matter.
- Creation of two new beds of approximately 20 m2 to provide appropriate screening and focal points for the garden with high grade top soil and organic matter added.
- All beds mulched with bark chipping to aid water retention as well as provide additional organic material to develop the soil structure over time.
- Two year renovation programme of large areas of lawn to remove significant quantities of moss and weeds.
- Re-shaping and pruning of approximately 70m of hedging of mixed evergreen material.
- Total re-planting of patio pots to integrate into the new garden planting schema.
- Implementation of a weekly maintenance programme to include monthly activity reports and quarterly review meetings.
BEFORE
AFTER
The first bed was created along a fence to provide screening to the garden from the road without using hedging. Here smaller growing silver birch varieties (Betula utilis var. jacquemontii ‘Moonbeam’) are interspersed with Stipa gigantea, a grass that will produce mounds topped by tall golden summer seed heads, accompanied by Hebe rakaiensis that will be clipped as they grow to echo the shape of the Stipa and offset the vertical strength of the Betula.
The second bed was created in the old space of a trampoline, with the aim to provide interest in a key focal point of the garden. A circular bed was created to soften the strong lines of the surrounding evergreen hedging, and planted to provide interest across the season including a central Amelanchier lamarckii.
In the final photograph are some of the re-planted patio pots that echo the colour scheme of the garden but take the opportunity of a different planting environment to introduce new varieties that add contrast and interest.
Client KT10
“On this sunny spring morning I just wanted to say that the garden is looking wonderfully green and so different from this time six months ago. Looking forward to seeing you next week to discuss the maintenance schedule!”