woodland wonderland: solving a shady sloping garden

tree fern

square layout

The clients require access around this awkward sloping garden, a bold seasonal planting spectacle to view from the upper terrace and house windows and low impact landscape installation with no paving, brickwork or concrete on site!

Sleepers in filled with gravel create strong structural pathways and steps to deal with the slope. Dicksonia antarctica tree ferns gives character, while supporting shrubs and herbaceous plants complement the ferns shapes, lush greens abound in a woodland theme. The site is shaded and cool so the plants grow slowly.

Carol hired artist Glen Walker Studio, one of the landscape installers, to make some bespoke Japanese style stools for the garden that blend with the sleeper detail. The garden is extremely simple, but has enough planting colour and foliage interest to provide a very easy to care for City retreat.

“My wife and I found Carol a complete joy to deal with – we are not gardeners but had very clear ideas as to how we wanted the garden to look and Carol worked with us in designing it and was creative and helpful during the whole process. In relation to the physical work itself, it was done on time, on budget and exactly as we had planned, with no unwelcome surprises. We would thoroughly recommend Carol to anybody thinking of doing any serious work on their garden. Thank you for all your hard work. We love the garden!” Patrick & Maria, Highgate