It's that time again, when I talk to you from a designer's or landscaper's perspective. In the first installment of Best Laid Plans I spoke about my initial design and the sites that I used to spawn an evolution of change in my initial concept. Now, I can finally present to you the next step in my thought process as my story has caught up to this point.
The tree at the back of the garden falling was a catalyst for a change in my design process. No longer could I try to create a shaded seating area at the back of the garden. I had to re-think, how I would use that space and where I wanted different elements to go.
The 2 major changes you will notice from the initial design are the incorporation of the rockery at the back of the garden and a bbq area next to the shed. The rockery as you know by now was an idea that was almost forced upon me by the large mass of soil I removed from the alfresco dining area. As I mentioned at the time, this was a huge change from a design perspective. It immediately creates a scenario where the rockery will need to be a focal point in the garden. Almost like a visual reward for travelling the length of the garden to see its beauty. However, with that in mind, the journey towards it must be broken up somehow. You ideally want to be drawn towards it, rather then being able to see it from the house at the opposite end.
One of the best illusions you can perform to make your garden feel bigger is to break it up into sections. This will make people feel like there is more to see and do in the garden, hence feeling bigger than it actually is. Another important element to that is hindering the line of sight with height. Whether it is a tree, bush, garden obelisk, arch or trellis. This is why I wanted to break up my quite large lawn with a bbq area. Creating a functional space for summer alfresco dining, while also breaking up the space and skewing the line of sight. I still felt like more height was needed in my garden even at this point in the design process. I was just very aware that adding height to your garden comes at a price, something that was still an issue. For example, even if I wanted to buy just one tall plant or bush, you can be looking at £50+ each. So I was actively looking at cheaper alternatives to add height to the garden.
In this version of the garden I feel like I was trying to give the benches a home within the design, while not being entirely sure if they were even going to be kept at all. I am a big fan of upcycling and repurposing objects. As they say 'one man's trash is another man's treasure', and I was never one to shy away from the challenge of turning coal into a diamond (just look at my garden).
A few images I have found along the way that have inspired my design process:
