Less is more, How to simplify your garden for retirement.
This garden is owned by an active couple who love gardening, theatre, dancing and the arts. They had recently ordered a summer house to be used as a painting studio, and knew that the garden would need to be altered to make space for it. At the same time they wanted more space to sit, and a simpler garden for their retirement.
The existing garden was hard work with its many small beds, and numerous pots, the patio and paths were made of old concrete crazy paving, which was dark and dated.
For the new garden design, we decided to create a simpler garden, that looked larger and less chaotic. All the small pots were taken away and the plants either placed in beds or a few larger pots. Small pots create more work, because they need more watering during summer months, and can look messy unless gathered together in ordered way. We decided to take out the diagonal path which had cut the lawn in two. This gave a larger lawn area, which is easier to mow. We placed a bench in a sunny spot so that there was seating for different times of the day when the patio was in shade.
The patio beyond conservatory was made larger and allowed plenty of space to get to the green house and the summer house. The old concrete paving made way for natural sandstone paving, and the bench, greenhouse and summer house were painted by the client in a bright cheerful colour.
We tried to keep as many of the clients existing plants as possible, moving what we could, but we also added a number of easy to care for perennial plants to give seasonal colour, adding interest across the seasons.
Budget £7000
