A gardeners job is never done
Year of completion
2018
Location
Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire
Landscape Contractor
J & S Scapes
Di and Allen are an adventurous well travelled couple with a keen interest in design, architecture and horticulture which has influenced their lifestyle over the years.
After years of happiness in the family home they had seen an opportunity to remain in the same location by building a modern house for their later years on grounds of their old family home. But this would destroy part of the garden which had been lovingly and expertly developed by them.
On the plus side, though, the new garden for their new home provided the opportunity for them to work on a garden design project – to do something radically different to their garden that had been developed over decades.
I received a call when the house was practically completed, with some of the key hard landscape surfaces in place but mounds of earth leftover from construction and a muddy building site to work with.
l wanted to use the excavated material from the development rather than take it away from the garden (it’s a key principle in our projects – to minimise what comes in and what goes out). A lawn wasn’t required by this plant-lover so I suggested landforming the excess material to create varied terrain over a large planting area to create different conditions and habitats for plants with pathways winding through the garden.
A steel pergola and high rendered walls dividing the garden into a series of rooms provided architectural structure, linking the garden back to the building, and providing playful contrast to the organically formed planting areas.
Di and Allen were very open to working with a designer to create a new space over a matter of months in contrast to their old garden developed over years. For them it was an enjoyable process to help bed their new home in a familiar, yet not familiar, setting. The planting, albeit extensive, was only a starting point for avid gardener Di who has since been tweaking, replanting and developing the new borders with new opportunities for new ideas.
A gardener’s job is never done.
