A new Front garden, Worth – West Sussex
The brief was to convert a large driveway into a welcoming front garden.
Front gardens deserve more attention. Most of the time, we are likely to see more of our front garden than our back garden.
Initial brief and existing garden: As my clients converted the former double door garage into a kitchen area, the main idea was to replace the large driveway with a new planted garden. Except for a small lawn and an
overgrown hedge, the existing front garden was mainly reduced to a large tarmac driveway.
Layout:
The main design objective was to find a good compromise in terms of size and practicality between the new driveway and the new front garden.
- In order to make this new space both beautiful and useful, the driveway was moved eight metres back from the house and replaced with a more intimate garden, separated by an instant Yew hedge.
- Fences with a trellis top were used to enclose the garden, creating privacy with a sense of openess.
- There are two different access points. The main access for everyday use and a secondary access which connects the side access to the driveway, planted with shade loving plants.
The planting:
Most of the flower beds are on the sides and along the house to soften the boundaries and the brick walls. As the client wanted some scented flowers, we planted some shrubs – Roses mixed with Catmint (Nepeta racemosa ‘Walker’s Low’).
- The planting combines a mix of evergreen shrubs, topiary and herbaceous perennials to provide year round interest.
- The Yew balls mixed with Pittosporum ‘Golf Ball’ are the main evergreen bones to provide structure in winter.
- Evergreen scented shrubs (Osmanthus, Skimmia, Daphne…) will also provide winter interest without becoming too large.
In terms of landscaping, the main job was to get rid of the tarmac andpoor soil and replace it with large amount of top soil.
