East London Garden Designer creates show stopping garden in Walthamstow.

Brief

Giles was looking for an East London Garden designer. He had extensively renovated the interior of this Walthamstow terraced house. He had a large garden shed at the bottom of the garden which he utilised as a den. He had had an attempt at landscaping, but thought the results were Dahl and uninspiring so he gave Earth designed a ring to see if they could help.

The client previously had a garden office installed and the garden landscaped at the same time. However the client was not happy with the resulting garden, which is uninspiring and has no provision for planting. The existing boundaries are also unsightly, although reasonably sound structurally. After a discussion with Earth Designs about how to improve the existing space, the client decided that the best course would be to remove the existing decking and lawn and start again with a new design.

Solution

Directly adjoining the house will be a patio laid with porcelain plank tiles installed in a stretcher pattern on a diagonal to the garden. The centre of the garden will feature a rectangular artificial lawn, installed with the same orientation as the porcelain paving.

To the left of this will be a planting bed containing a line of three 50cm solid oak cubes. Each cube will have a stainless steel water blade mounted on the side facing the lawn, from which water will cascade into a stainless steel rill running along the side of the lawn.

A second porcelain plank patio at the rear of the space will provide space for an outdoor dining table and chairs. The decorative oak cubes would double as seating down one side of the table. A strip of Yellow Balau hardwood decking installed on the opposite diagonal to the lawn and paving will run up the right side of the garden to the door of the existing garden office structure.

The existing fences down either side of the garden will be clad with decorative slatted panels constructed from attractive and durable western red cedar. The planting in the space focuses on texture and leaf shape. Taking centre stage are two Platanus x hispanica flat top trees, providing privacy as they form their canopy. Climbers adorn the walls while contrasting grasses and buxus provide added drama.