The Brief

We were contacted by a client in Blackwell, Warwickshire to completely renovate and redesign her rather neglected front garden. We had ‘free reign’ to come up with a scheme of our choosing and quickly assessed the garden’s aspect, soil type, existing features etc.

Our first step was to remove all the existing planting which was riddled with pernicious weeds. We excavated to a depth of approximately 8 inches and imported fresh topsoil. By retaining the existing reclaimed brick edging and keeping the sinuous curves, our new planting worked well in the compact space.

The area was a real sun trap, so we decided to design our take on a Mediterranean garden. We filled the space an array of Lavender, Lychnis, Perovskia, Caryopteris, Verbena and other plants with silvery foliage and delicate flowers in a palette of white, blue, purple and pink. We made the scheme more cohesive by planting airy grasses such as Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’, Molinia caerulea and Hakonochloa macra. Finally, to enhance the subtle planting arrangement we incorporated Helenium ‘Moorheim Beauty’ and Crocosmia to provide splashes of burnt orange, giving appealing focal points.

To really enhance the planting, we mulched with a 10mm golden gravel. This is not only decorative but will allow the plants to retain moisture in dryer Summers. Lastly, we embellished the overall design with a beautiful selection of terracotta pots and urns, planted with plants used in the scheme to provide consistency.