Twickenham, London
A joyful and jungly plantsman’s paradise in Twickenham, London. A series of six garden rooms were created from a 40 x 5m terraced garden that had been entirely neglected.
A palette of traditional cottage garden classics mixed with statement architectural plants created a lush, colourful backdrop around the lawn close to the house.
Behind this the garden continued, via a mini secret garden under trees, through a sweetly scented elaeagnus hedge onto a new vegetable garden, wildflower mini-orchard and onto a riverside terrace.
Removing the old concrete path and invasive species first, we then cleared, rotavated and finally enriched the soil with organic matter. Working with the existing levels, the small bank was retained and a short run of steps was built using reclaimed Tudor bricks in order to connect the upper and lower terraces. The top decking steps were realigned to create a central axis and line of sight down the very long garden allowing for supervision of the young children from inside the house. The unsightly panel fence giving access to the river was replaced with a classic white picket while the boundary fence panels were clothed with tall perennials, evergreens and climbers.
A silver-variegated holly & ivy hedge either side of the new steps provide a gorgeous evergreen backdrop to the David Austin Roses and double herbaceous borders enveloping the top lawn. Beyond this we created a small secret garden of shade-loving, structural plants around a bench and lawn under four new trees providing complete privacy from the neighbours.
passing further under a fast-growing, scented eleagnus hedge, twin raised beds were built to grow vegetables and herbs for the family. These were placed further away and out of direct sight from the house so they could be ‘put to bed’ in the winter without detracting from the view.
Past these we installed a short avenue of heritage apple trees, which after being established were trained into an apple arch or tunnel. Under these were planted bulbs for naturalising and a Meadowmat native wildflower meadow. Beyond the new picket fence was added a storage shed, composting area and further picket fencing for child safety at the riverside.
