Garden Design Diary 1                                      25 January 2009

 CLIENT COMMENTS:

"Anything is better than what we have. We need our shed and since the back garden is smaller than our kitchen/living room, the current square grass area is pointless".

SITE ANALYSIS AND DESIGN DEVELOPMENT:

The garden is typical of the space given to new houses in the Galway city and county location. The garden is overlooked on both sides, with a three metre wall to the rear of the garden. Its a small box, measuring nine metres by ten metres, with an oil tank, garden shed (2.5m by 2m) and a outside boiler in this space.

The garden feels very enclosed and small, with no focus and gives the impression, "we must do something with that or that the shed". No invitation at all to explore the space and its current function is somewhere for the bins.

The problem with this garden was, when sitting in the living-room you see the whole space and the boundaries and the structures are the main focal points on the eye. As is seen from the base plan, the cobble-block path and the rectangle lawn reinforced the confined space and there was no illusion of a journey into the garden/space.

We have changed the direction of flow into the space (twice) and when the Prunus lustanica green-wall matures (one metre), it will divide the space/garden, leading to a private patio area.

The budget was limited but with good design, the functional elements are the most important part and when this is achieved, the design is complete when the plants mature. 

The eye is now drawn by the avenue path, which is further focused by the purple/plum slate and which is framed by the lavender/plum featured wall. This wall when the budget allows, have a mirror attached, which will give the illusion of space as you walk towards the patio. The fencing is painted a candle cream colour, to allow these hard structures to recede into the background

For two professional people, low maintenance was required, but here we want the hard-landscaping to have impact and texture. We wanted the garden to have level changes, to give depth to the design and this was achieved with the decking platform, which is flush with the living room space and therefore when the double doors are open the space becomes one. 

The garden design produced a secluded space for people to relax and unwind and this is the view from the patio area behind the bamboos, looking back to the living area. It is no longer a open rectangle box and with the texture and form of the planting, its an enjoyable space to be in.                 

Simple raised planting areas were created, to provide easy care maintenance for the owners, and to give the garden different heights of planting. We also created a one tiered pergola, which divides the garden into outdoor rooms and helps to camouflages the rear high wall. This is planted with Wisteria (purple) to pick up the colour on the ground and wall and creates a balance in the garden design.

Please contact us today for a free consultation about your landscaping project.