I rarely if ever show works in progress photographs of gardens. I’ve no real specific reason for that; apart from the fact that I feel it shouldn’t influence whether you like that end result or not.
In a funny sort of a way, I will admit it does add to the story when you see what it was beforehand and here I’m going to make the exception.
And it changes everything. Because before what was there was a fenced in space. And on the ground with a hi-line marker I sketched out were the lines of the walls that never existed, would be built. Mark told me were the patio would finish and everything one might say ran seamlessly. And to be fair, it comes across that way, as it should do.
In reality what happened here was really smart planning and very choice planting.
On a very basic level (?), the soil here imported was pure golden – and that may sound like a very frivolous point to note but it’s usually the one thing that is always overlooked. Maybe it saves a few euro here or there but why would you want to put such beautiful planting into rubbish soil ? I never understood that. On the other hand, it makes me not the “cheapest quote” – but then I sleep better and I always get it right the first time.
Moving swiftly on, the raised beds retained in part by gabions hidden below soil level were not just of 3 rectangles, which added to its depth and allowed for changes in planting and that back drop of Photina is just beautiful. Tie that in with a minimum 3 – 5 litre pot size of lower planting and what it achieves is a garden that looks like it has been there for some time, but yet extremely well maintained.
Behind the scenes in all of this, very fine construction and a client with really great taste in finishing.
Thoughts or Q’s [?] leave a comment below or drop me a line.
Peter Donegan:
- twitter: @DoneganGardens
- facebook: DoneganLandscaping
- email: info@doneganlandscaping.com
