COMPLETED
PROJECTS

Location: North London

Site description: A garden on two levels. The lawn area is in the first level and the second levels the patio area.

The brief: Roberto did not have a proper brief when he started designing this garden. The client had a house that dictated already the garden style: an old Victorian house. She had an English taste for plants and colours but was open to modern ideas as long as he keeps them according to the house.

The design process: A sketch proposal was followed by a planting plan after she sent him her survey. During the design process she added a romantic and white conservatory to open up the vista to the garden from the house. He had also to add new steps and a raised beds to accommodate the new planting in the patio.

The borders around the lawn were also very narrow and the plants from the previous design had no space. He designed a rectangular lawn edged by brick. The brick edge travel all around the lawn creating a zig zag lay out

He chose the plants for its sculptural qualities. Euphorbia chacaracias "Wulfenii" were placed in the middle of the raised beds. Sculpted rounded conifers, Phormium tenax and Fatsias were added to the theme. In the shade area, he designed an oak seat for a place to seat in the hot summer days.

Around the extension he used box ball that was repeatedly used through out the garden.

On the far back of the garden He planted large magnolias to screen the view front her neighbours in a grand sort of style.

Major hardlandscape materials: Brick, wooden trellis and oak.

Major softlandscape materials: Euphorbia chacaracias "Wulfenii ", Phormium tenax, Akebia quinata, sedum "autumn joy", Cynara cardunculus, geranium "Johsons blue".

The final result: Although he had some problems with the shape of the lawn due to an inaccurate survey done by the previous designer, he managed to solve the problems on site during his inspections. The garden is simple and has a lot of architectural forms and shapes in the design.