This garden is in Sussex, England. It was completely re-designed, although a few existing large trees and boundary hedges were retained, as well as the indoor swimming pool and enclosure. A new outdoor patio area was constructed, on the south side of the house to take advantage of afternoon sun; this is to be paved in ashlar sandstone pattern - still to be laid. Owner's existing furniture and planter pots have been used to date, with a plan to upgrade pots and add outdoor soft furnishings this year. The new garden is divided into separate 'rooms': a gravel garden; a bog garden and pond with bridge; a formal sunken garden; perennial borders enclosing a water feature and lily pond; wild flower meadow in the orchard; woodland wild flower area; the circular gravelled entrance driveway, and a Gertrude Jekyll style herbaceous border in the northwest corner. The owner is a keen gardener and has nurtured the plants well, and the garden is beginning to flourish in its second season.
Plantings are largely herbaceous perennials, grasses, bulbs, roses, climbing roses, clematis with structure from clipped box balls and yew, box and lonicera hedges. Several trees have been added: weeping and non-weeping cherries and a Judas Tree. Pleached hornbeam hedges flank the formal sunken garden, but are still in their infancy.
The photos on the next page tell the story of the overgrown and uncoordinated garden that existed before work began:
