The Westland Garden by Dairmuid Gavin

By Dairmuid Gavin. The garden is designed for an active and artistic mature couple. It includes a pavilion clad in western red cedar with two wings that intersect, providing two glass studio spaces, each with its own deck overlooking a pond.

This is an environment where the couple can express themselves artistically and intellectually, while being surrounded by a green haven in a woodland area.

Tiles laid out in a giant floral pattern express the couple's eclectic taste in art and sculpture. Bubble chairs suspend from metal rafters on an open deck over the pond. It is a place for evening, for books, wildlife, dreaming and gazing. There are slight undulations in the landscape, mounding around a superb Japanese maple and again towards the back wall, giving movement, which represents the couple's active minds. There is a compost heap, which is used to enrich the soil in the woodland.

Recycled timber boards have been used for the floors in the buildings and plant material is recycled back into the garden through the compost heap. Rainwater is collected from the roof to water and top-up the pond.

The planting is green with small interludes of colour. The pavilion appears to emerge from a plantation of Betula utilis.

Plant list (click on any of the green links for more information):

Shrubs
Astelia chathamica
Eriobotyra japonica
Pittosporum tobira
Pittosporum tobira 'Nanum'
Nandina domestica
Buxus sempervirens
Phormium tenax
Amelanchier lamarckii

Grasses / Grass foliage
Anemanthele lessoniana
Carex testacea
Luzula sylvatica Marginata
Deschampsia caespitosa 'Gold Tau'
Calamagrostis acutiflora 'Karl Forster'

Bulbs
Allium 'Purple Sensation'

Herbaceous
Acanthus spinosus
Hosta sibeoldiana 'Elegance'
Hosta sieboldii
Euphorbia 'Whistleberry Garnet'
Helleborus foetidus
Iris laevigata
Nymphaea Alba

Trees
Betula utilis
Acer palmatum

Ferns
Dicksonia antarctica
Dryopteris filix-mas
Polystichum Setiferum
Polystichum Tsu-simense
Polystichum munitum
Polystichum setiferum Divisilobum Group
Polystichum Blechnum spicant
Polystichum polyplepharum