A GARDEN OF SIGHTLINES
Barnes, London SW13

We opted for a fairly traditional feel with a thick carpet of high quality turf, and planting around the edge of the garden.  The depth of the borders were determined by the pavilion at the end; the bed on the left being particularly narrow because of the opening.  Here we planted a series of shrubs to be trained as wall shrubs such as Carpenteria californica and a new Hibiscus called 'Blue Chiffon', with lots of different climbers scrambling through to prolong the season of interest.  The existing spring flowering Magnolia was looking a little lost in front of the pavilion, so a box hedge was added around it's base to mirror the straight lines and rectangles of the building, and to 'anchor' it to the ground.  Within this a timber box was added to allow for different seasonal flowering bulbs, such as tulips.  In the far corner of the garden, near the large pavilion window, it was felt that a really beautiful focal point was needed here.  We chose a Japanese Maple, Acer  'Sango-Kaku' as it looks lovely all year round.  We under-planted this with evergreen Japanese spurge and yellow-stemmed dogwoods to provide a colourful winter contrast. The remaining planting was designed to soften the garden with a wild billowy feel and lots of scent and colour such as plum poppies, monkshood, lilies, roses, grasses and salvias.