Imposing outlook, sauntering paths and ever changing colour
The garden was designed as part of the major renovation of a substantial home in one of Hampstead’s premier roads. The owner asked for lots of seasonal colour but no ‘meandering meadows’.
A linear design divides the garden spaces. Paths and strips of Taxus domes provide a strong, sculptural feature, which draw the
eye to informal meadow style planting to the rear, softly separating the garden from the expanse of the golf course beyond - to the ‘borrowed view’. To one side of the lawn there are lush, shady walkways through a three dimensional Ilex crenata parterre, studded with Liquidambar styraciflua ‘Gum Ball’ and Acers. On the sunny side, Teucrium hedging offers minimal restraint to exuberant, Mediterranean style planting in rich purples, magenta and white. Basalt paving and raised beds span the basement extension below.
Planting in the front garden is on three dimensional planes, cubes and pillars of Ilex crenata, Taxus, Photinia and Carpinus softened by Acers, white hydrangeas, ferns and evergreen ground cover to provide an imposing yet understated elegance to present the house.