New Wimbledon planting project

E&S were having a bit of a nightmare with their garden. The removal of a Eucalyptus tree revealed a hotch potch of different height fences and exposed the garden to their neighbours’ gaze. Sorting the fence out resulted in the loss of a lot of established plants.

The fencing contractor made quite a mess which E&S’s gardener managed to resolve. And E’s first attempt to get some help from a garden designer ended in disappointment. This is how the garden looked when I first saw it. Not the worst starting point but I had quite a task on my hands to make up for all the frustrations of the previous year.

The garden had been very green and lush with none of the neighbour’s houses visible. E wanted to get this look again, but with more flowers and colour. The borders also needed reshaping to give a better structure to the garden.

The first thing that struck me was that the shed was in the wrong place. We moved it from the sunniest spot in the garden to a shadier corner, swapping places with a seating arbour. We also made the stepping stone path more of a feature and by using the same paving as elsewhere in the garden the overall look came together better.

The borders were reshaped from awkward corners and wiggly lines into sweeping curves. And then we selected a palette of plants from evergreens to shade-lovers to E’s favourite vibrant blues and yellows. It was all planted in October so E&S have had a nine month wait to see it all come to fruition.

This project proves that you don’t need a lot of hard landscaping to make a massive difference to a garden. It’s amazing what you can achieve by reshaping the lawn and investing in the right plants.

Thanks to the efforts of E and her gardeners the garden is looking immaculate in July. And it is by no means at its peak, there’s still Rudbeckia, Asters and Sedums to come later this summer. And by next year it will be looking even better.