Outdoor rooms garden
By Cambridge garden designer Spike Jackson. The propeperty is a Grade 1 listed Manor House on the western edge of London, with the oldest part (a four-bay Yeoman's Hall) dating back to the mid 14th century. Despite its many fascinating qualities, the house was essentially inward looking, and the clients wanted a pair of linked “outdoor rooms” for them to use to lounge in the sun or dine in the shade.
For design inspiration I turned to the dominant western
aesthetic for the period during which much of the constuction of
the house took place: the Renaissance. I used themes that can still
be seen in some of the great preserved villa gardens of Italy:
strong central axies, and a layout based on nested squares and
circles.
Materials are also sympathetic to the context of the building
(essential in this case, where Listed building consent had to be
obtained before the project could proceed): natural sandstone
paving in mixed sizes; handmade red bricks specially made to match
the slim tudor bricks of the house; green oak for the pergola.
Dwarf Box edging and
Box Balls symmetrically
placed at corners are a nod to Renaissance planting, but otherwise
the plant selection has been driven mostly by considerations of
longevity of seasonal interest and ease of maintenance. The
climbers to be trained over the pergola feature Clematis
viticella for flowers and Vitis coignetiae with its huge leaves
for dappled shade. We are also trialling two newly introduced
fruiting vines that promise both delicious grapes and a
disease-free constitution for the British climate: Vitis vinifera
'Phoenix' and Vitis vinifera
'Regent'.
Other planting includes:
Agapanthus 'Midnight Star'
Allium karataviense
Allium 'Purple
Sensation'
Anemone x
hybrida 'Honorine Jobert'
Artemisia abrotanum
Bergenia 'Baby Doll'
Campanula
lactiflora 'Pritchard's Variety'
Caryopteris
clandonensis 'Heavenly Blue'
Centranthus ruber
Ceratostigma
plumbaginoides
Convulvulus cneorum
Crambe maritima
Echinacea purpurea 'White Lustre'
Eremurus himalaicus
Eryngium giganteum
Euonymus fortunei
'Emerald Gaiety'
Euphorbia characias 'White Swan'
Euphorbia
myrsinites
Geranium
macrorrhizum 'Album'
Gypsophila
'Rosenschleier'
Hebe parviflora
angustifolia
Helleborus
corsicus
Iris 'Jane Philips'
Juniperus conferta
Knautia macadonica
Kniphofia 'Green Jade'
Lavendula angustifolia 'Rosea'
Miscanthus sinensis 'Rotsilber'
Nepeta 'Six Hills
Giant'
Nerine bowdenii
Perovskia atriplicifolia
'Blue Spire'
Persicaria affinis
'Superba'
Phormium 'Platt's
Black'
Phuopsis stylosa
Rosa 'Eglantyne'
Rosmarinus
officinalis 'Jackmans Prostrate'
Salvia verticillata 'Purple Rain'
Sambucus 'Black
Lace'
Sarcococca
hookeriana 'Dignya'
Sedum 'Matrona'
Sedum spectabile
'Iceburg'
Sedum telephium 'Ruprechtii'
Weigela florida
'Foliis Purpureis'
