Now that the hardscaping, bed preparation and preliminary plantings are complete I thought it would be useful to share the design imperatives; how they translated into “as built” and what may be some of the possible evolutionary steps.
The over-arching design principles included 4 season interest; variety of planting styles and plants ( alpines/crevice garden; semi shade woodland;full sun perennials);generally lower maintenance; family living space (patio) to enjoy the garden views.A strong nod to stay within budget!
The front of the house, as built , had 3 beds and was planted randomly with typical southern landscape plants.The original design called for an additional 4th bed and an extension to one of the beds. For budgetary purposes these additional bed areas were scrapped and all the existing, builder installed plants would be reused. It was decided to create 5 distinct planting areas within the 3 beds.
This segment bed was originally planted with a crape myrtle and azaleas ( all now in the woodland garden). It was always intended to have roses at the front in memory of Allen. We saw a wonderful display of pink knockouts in Hoboken NJ and checked with Michael about their suitability in GA – thumbs up – so that was an easy decision.It also precluded the addition of a 4th bed.
The front bed next to the house was planted with azalea,loropetalum, distylium, dwarf arborvitae and boxwood – all repurposed.At Lathallen we had installed a white bed,which worked well – we liked the idea of a single color bed but opted this time for yellow. We have planted a dozen yellow roses , guarded by podocarpus – the one southern landscape feature we aquiesced to. At the end of March we will add Lantana – Chapel Hill – already trialled for us by Mads and BCS – stunning – and a yellow chrysanthemum (as yet variety unknown) for the autumn show. In the autumn we will add narcissi and allium moly to give a yellow spring succession for 2023.
The annex to the front bed, next to the front door, has been designed to give a Japanese stylistic look.A stone feature of white quartz boulders, all found on our plot, will be planted with delospermum and sempervivum.The 3 repositioned dystilium give evergreen structure and the effect will be finished with a single iris plant and Juniper procumbens Nana. It was never intended to put the pine mulch in this area but I turned my back and “shazzam” the team had it down – I did not have the heart to get them to lift it so we will live with it for a few months and then replace it with a permatil mulch. One of the three Japanese lanterns we brought from NC helps to give the final effect.
This is one of 2 plantings that gave pause for thought. We liked the idea of a conifer bed- CP loves that blue-grey conifer hew- but we didn’t know whether to focus on a collection -single specimens of different varieties – or ”a look” – multiples of a few varieties. In the end we went for “a look” with a focus on texture and structure. Choosing 5 plants of different heights, in multiples, should give a wave like effect. Easily sourced blue star juniper; wilton blue rug juniper; Juniper horizontalis icee blue ; grey owl juniper and a weeping blue atlas cedar were chosen.All thrive in full sun. This planting also threw up a design conundrum – that of concentration. Do you overplant to give a nicer effect now or plant to get the mature effect in 5 years time. We went for the latter – time will tell if this was the correct choice.
The fifth planting at the front is truly cost effective – but very pleasing nonetheless. We have planted pink muhly and evergold carex – two nice grasses- in a concentrated way – these were haphazard plantings by the builder here and there. Already they look more striking. We added dwarf buddleia ”tutti fruiti” to attract butterflies as this bed is adjacent to our front garden bench ( where already many cups of tea have been enjoyed).
Whilst the beds are indeed sparse at present, they already look better “ in real life” than on the design paper.The next few months are going to be exciting!
AndAllenGarden 