Formal Cottage Garden & Kids Fun Features within the Landscaping

Category: Cottage Gardens & Traditional Gardens

Garden Design Project: COTFGD001

This formal Landscape Design project involves various parts of the grounds around a much-extended country property, set in countryside surroundings, but in an elevated position overlooking the Firth of Forth.

Drawings were hand drawn and to scale (no Landscape Design Software Used).

The main areas developed during this Landscape Design project were the 300m2 garden immediately in front of the house, an elevated, wooded area to the rear of the property, and a sloping paddock to one side of the house.

Landscape Design
The brief for the gardens to the front of the house was to create a simple, timeless, Formal Garden appropriate to the country Cottage Garden style frontage of the house, and to the nature of the rural surroundings.

The client required access through the gardens along the front of the house, an attractive approach to the front door, and a Paved area immediately outside the kitchen, where there was a further door.

The left hand lawn includes a Pyrus tree � the only survivor from the original garden. The right hand lawn includes Stepping Stones path which provides access, down stone steps to the sunken Patio which forms the middle level.

Cottage Garden Project

This Indian Sandstone Paved Patio provides a sheltered sitting area outside the kitchen. The stone-faced raised Flower Beds that surround it include herbs for cooking.

Cottage Garden Project This 'formal' Cottage Garden is set on three levels, following the levels of different additions to the building, which reflect the gradient of the natural landscape. The upper section includes the path to the front door. This is paved with Indian Sandstone and flanked by lavender borders and a lawn to each side.

Landscaping Further Stone steps leading down from the patio provide access to the lower level, which includes, a Paved Patio area for a barbecue, a lawn with borders around two sides and a Stepping Stone path running around the other two sides of the lawn leading to the Driveway and paddock at the gable end of the house.

Landscaping The rear woodland area was intended to become a further play area for the client's children. Access to this area was created by building a stone Retaining Wall and setting in a series of informal turfed steps formed by oak Sleepers.

These steps lead to a 100m2 play area set into the woodland, with willow hurdle edging, playbark, a scratch-build treehouse and a handmade oak swing.

Reclaimed stone sets have been used as a lawn and path edging throughout to enhance the 'always-been-there' feel of the Cottage Garden.

Cottage Garden Project
The main feature included in the paddock was a 14 foot diameter sunken trampoline. Due to the sloping ground a circular retaining wall was set into the side of the hill, the front end of which projected above ground on the downhill side.

This was then banked up with soil, profiled and turfed to create a quite sculptural effect. The trampoline sits perfectly within the circular pit. Draining was included at the bottom of the trampoline to prevent flooding.

Other aspects of the project included an oak-framed log store and stone sett-edged grass verges and steps on the roadside boundary of the house.

Stepping Stones Treehouse

Planting includes a mixture of perennial Plants and Shrubs with an emphasis on deep reds, blues and purples. The borders were planted in traditional Cottage Garden style as far as possible, given the climate. Other suitable plants were chosen to provide a simple formality in some areas of the garden, while still being sympathetic to traditional planting and period style.

This Landscaping project has proved to be a great garden with something for everyone, adults and kids alike.

Submitted By: Jos Finer BA Dip PSGD (Distinction)
Website: www.finergardens.co.uk

Planting Schedule

Annuals
Tanacetum Parthenium

         Bulbs
                        Allium Hollandicum 'Purple Sensation'
                        Liatris Spicata 'Kobold'
                        Tulipa 'Spring Green'

         Perennials
                        Acanthus Mollis
                        Agapanthus 'Headbourne Hybrids'
                        Agapanthus 'Alba'
                        Allium Shoenopresam (Chives)
                        Aster Frikartii 'Monch'
                        Astilbe 'Deutschland'
                        Astrantia Major
                        Campanula Portenschlagiana
                        Centranthus Ruber 'Alba Pura'
                        Cerastium Tometosum
                        Cirsium Rivulare 'Atropurpureum'
                        Echinops Ritro
                        Eryngium x Tripartetum
                        Geranium 'Johnsons Blue'
                        Helleborus Foetidus
                        Heuchera 'Palace Purple'
                        Hosta (Various)
                        Lupinus 'The Governor'
                        Nepeta x Faassenii
                        Persicaria Affinis 'Donald Lownes'
                        Salvia Nemerosa
                        Sedum Spectabile 'Autumn Joy'
                        Tradescantia (Anderson Group) 'Isis'
                        Tiarella Cordifolia

         Shrubs
                        Brachyglottis 'Sunshine'
                        Buddleja Globosa
                        Cordyline Australis
                        Cytisus Lena
                        Euphorbia Amygdaloides
                        Lavendula
                        Olearia Macrodonta
                        Pinus Mugo
                        Ribes Sanguineum
                        Rosa Rugosa 'Alba'
                        Santolina Chamaecyparissus
                        Tamarisk Tetranda
                        Yucca Gloriosa
                        Yucca Gloriosa
                        Yucca Gloriosa