Garden Design - Bounds Green, London N10
This design is crisp and angular with a contemporary feel, and divides the space into three distinct areas in order to incorporate the existing block paving and retain an area of lawn for the client's dog.
Leading into the main area of garden from the existing block paving will be a path comprising rows of mint sandstone interspersed with rows of loose polished black Chinese pebbles. This will dogleg first to the right, then to the left and continue halfway down the right hand side of the space, where it will finally turn left again to run across the middle of the space. The journey of this path shall enclose a large area of paving, laid in a formal pattern with stylish black honed slate tiles (60cm x 60cm).
Directly in front of the existing block paving, to the left and right of the first section of path, two 50cm high rendered block raised beds will serve to firmly separate the block paved area from the rest of the space. These beds will be filled with elegant Zantedeschia and spiky Miscanthus for truly contemporary planting scheme. A further, long, rendered block raised bed planted with black bamboo separates the middle section from a large area of lawn at the bottom of the space. The colour of the raised beds would be decided in conjunction with the client.
The lawn area will be framed by a series of silver birch, underplanted with evergreen sedge and black grass, to give the bottom of the garden a secluded, copse-like feel.
Several decorative features sited within the main area of paving will become focal points of the space. The first of these will be two unusual sculptures, one on the left and one middle back of the paving, which will comprise topiary spirals planted in tall tapered black zinc planters contained within two large square frames joined together to form a hollow, rectangular, box-like structure. Behind the left hand box sculpture a host of vertical copper tubes will appear to be 'growing' from a railway sleeper set into the ground. Several similar tubular sculptures, nestled between the bamboo in the raised bed running across the garden, will produce a dramatic and visually stunning backdrop to the garden.
To ensure continued use when the sun goes down, the garden will feature a variety of lighting chosen to give both general lighting and to highlight certain features. Low voltage spot lights placed throughout the beds will give the garden a gentle wash to the garden while drawing attention to the architectural planting scheme. Down lighters in the top of the box sculptures will highlight the bamboo below, with white light sticks hidden amongst main tubular sculpture to the left bringing a playful feel to the space. Uplighters below the remaining tubular sculptures will illuminate the long raised bed to striking effect. Finally, stainless steel eyelid lights set into the exposed walls of the remaining raised beds will help to illuminate the path and paving, and guide ones journey through the space.