I’ve most probably noted this a bizillion times over but, there are two things that make any garden that little bit extra brilliant:
A really, really great client – I hate that word – And…..
An entire disaster of a pre my getting there garden.
The latter if I’m honest, very simply gives the before and after video that extra wow factor and maybe makes me look a little more of a genius at what I do. Whereas the former, really is what makes it all, feel just that extra special and tailored just for you. Something I can only describe as the difference between a house and a home.
What may be worth considering here is:
that the (pre my getting there) garden rose by approx 27 degrees over a 9 metre distance to the rear
the soil was really something terrible; better known as a gley soil to the horticulturist; or a level below subsoil. And…
therefore the drainage and nutrient soil value was virtually non existant.
the only access was through the house
Those factors however really did not affect in any way what the garden was to become. That, in it’s entirety came down to the Clients (yup) wishes and a meeting of minds for the what the space would become.
Historically, almost every ornamental raised bed I ever made was from stone. No apparent reason, it’s just what was done, what was the trend and what clients requested… like Lonicera nitida hedges maybe, in pre 1980’s Ireland. In that context this Dublin domestic back garden is a little bit different. A little; yet still there’s something in this space outdoors that is a little old school funky, like a really great vinyl record collection.
I don’t know whether its the fact that the timber will age ever so as the plants mature or the fact that the planting choice, to the eloquent plants person could maybe be considered mildly eclectic. Maybe it’s the whitewash walls, or the pebble, or that fact that [by definition] there are two hedges in this garden, both serving two different functions.
Of note, the plants in particular within this space, fresh from the nurseries, will need a little time to come into their own, to harmonise, acclimatise and turn towards the preferred source of light.
The garden layout and build aside, I like the raised beds in wood. I love that I made them to measure and that client in mind, we did build in that wee seat just below the Dicksonia antartica. More than that, they will make the gardening work easy-er, after I am gone.
In the plant selection department I know I was really smart when it came to this as the growth rates per annum are quite low. Aesthically to counteract that, were possible they were brought in a little more mature; it was important that they looked like they had been there for some time and there is nothing worse than waiting five or so years for a garden to come entirely into its own. A bit like taking too long to paint your home and only giving it one coat of paint, if you get me.
Tied in with a semi-permeable membrane used within the raised beds and a decorative pebble, this gives the client a low-er by far maintenance garden. And when you look at it, really outside of the grass; there isn’t really much by way of annual maintenance costs or time at all.
To the rear of the [rear] garden I love that the front hedge is Laurus nobilis and though it will take a little for the dots to join, there will be nothing nicer when it does than sitting behind it on the south facing raised patio area, within what already feels like a separate room within the great outdoors.
Far more than that, this is a garden that I’m really going to look forward to returning to. There is something truly wonderful about being able to see a photosynthetic picture of the future, in my imagination (?), for it exists nowhere else. Far, far better that picture coming to fruition and others smiling because of what was created for them.
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