Our brief involved designing a contemporary cottage garden with an informal aesthetic but updated with a modern twist for this large urban garden in the Lisvane area of Cardiff.
The Brief
This design was for another of our Cardiff based clients, who asked us to design this large, ‘blank slate’ space in a contemporary Cottage Garden style. After the initial meeting to discuss the project scope, we produced a detailed mood board with design ideas and materials suggestions based upon our conversation and her aspirations for the space. This gave her a feel for our concept, including both the design elements and planting style.
The main path through the contemporary cottage garden is designed in Golden Flint pea gravel, which transitions seamlessly into a Blue Pennant sandstone paved pergola area. Sourced locally, this sandstone has wonderful rich colours of blue-greys and rusty reds. The space is further complemented by an oak pergola, which will be custom-built by the client’s husband, a skilled master craftsman carpenter. The paths, beds and lawn are edged in cotemporary looking powder coated steel.
Planting design
The classic, informal cottage garden planting concept was updated to include more structure, with evergreen specimen shrubs, including a row of topiary Ligustrum jordanum half standards complemented by the naturally rounded forms pittosporum ‘Tom Thumb’ which were repeated through the beds, and the existing evergreen half standard Bay tree was incorporated as a feature into the centre of the lawn.
Rather than high maintenance annuals, the bespoke planting included low maintenance shrubs, perennials, climbers and grasses, with groundcover perennials including geraniums helping cut down weeding time.
Soil preparation was carried out well in advance, with a high quality compost-topsoil mix applied in the Autumn, with beds covered over winter, prior to planting up in late Spring.
Planting included the following:
- Ligustrum jonandrum half standards
- Hydrangea ‘Annabelle’
- Lonicera periclymenum
- Hedera algeriensis
- Rosa ‘The Mayflower’
- Rosa glauca
- Pittosporum ‘Tom Thumb’
- Alchemilla mollis
- Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’
- Astrantia major
- Lavandula angustifolia
- Alliums
- Achillea
- Geraniums (several varieties and colours)
- Verbena
- Erigeron
- Heuchera
- Libertia grandiflora
- Stipa tenuissima
- Acer palmatum…. as well as a few others.