If you have a roughly square garden which is surrounded by fence (and neighbours) you are not alone. This design brings the focus into the garden and creates a low maintenance wild sanctuary which attracts wildlife. The curved retaining walls and patio hide the boxiness of the space and create movement and interest.
Get the look
The simple sunhouse provides space for a little storage or a space to hide out of the inclement weather. Lots of glass, you can even use this space to start off seedlings in the spring.
Revitalise an old or mismatched fencing by painting them a slate grey. It's not just a fad. Painting your fence a darker colour helps draw attention to the foliage and other things in your garden, and the fence feels further away and your garden bigger. We've used this Cuprinol paint in my own garden, on everything from fence, trellis and even an old dining table set, it's all come up nicely.
This particular client had some natural sandstone they had leftover from a new patio around the front of the house, so needed to match it. We found the previous supplier (Natural Fossil Buff), but you can make this design work for you with any surface which either matches an existing material you have in your garden or house. The shape and proportion are what makes this design work, so if budget is an issue, re-use a material you already have or use a low cost alternative like self-binding gravel, which is permeable (good for drainage!) and doesn't shift around underfoot like pea gravel. It's the sort of material used in National Trust gardens for paths, and if it's good enough for them it's good enough for me!
Key plants
Planting to attract wildlife is as simple as creating a year round 'nectar bar', which attracts nectar feeding insects, which in turn attracts insect feeding birds and so on up the food chain.
One of my favourite bombproof shrubs is Viburnum tinus 'Eve Price', an unfussy evergreen with delicious scented blooms from December to April. It grows to around 3m x 3m, so it's not too thuggish, but make sure you give it space to grow.
Cover a fence with Clematis armandii for early spring flowers with a delicious scent. Perfect on those crisp spring mornings! It's evergreen, self clinging and not too fussy.
For the middle of your year, a succession of flowering bulbs gives huge scope for variety and interest. My personal favourites for are Fritilleria melagris (snake-head frittilary, flowers April-May) Allium christophii (flowering May-June).
Sedum 'Herbstfreude' is an easy to grow sedum which has stunning pink flowers in autumn, attracting an abundance of butterflies and other nectar feeding insects. After flowering the stems dry out but remain structurally sound all winter, so still look great covered in frost or snow in the depths of winter.
Sedum telephium 'Purple Emperor' is another easy sedum, with deep red foliage and stems as an added bonus! Flowers in late summer.
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