Winnar 'Golden Award'
Category: Small Gardens

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT

Stefano Marinaz Landscape Architecture

GARDEN CONTRACTOR

Taramelli

CLAY PAVER

Mix of Ancienne Belgique 
Camel
Oyster Grey

PROCESSING

herringbone bond

Photos: © Stefano Marinaz Landscape Architecture

Stefano Marinaz: “Our work on the large, west-facing garden of this lovely Georgian building in South Kensington was linked to a full restoration of the house by London-based architects MWAI, and Taramelli, a building contractor operating worldwide. 

When we first saw the site in Pelham Crescent it was a rather gloomy place, filled with evergreen plants and shrubs that had all been clipped into severe shapes. No flowering plants or perennials had been planted to soften this formal effect, so that despite its sunny position, the garden was not a place to relax.

The aim of the design was to offer a garden that changes throughout the year giving a good balance between usable spaces with different functions and large planting beds that are visible from every room in the house. The large multistem Cornus kousa brought in and placed at the end of the garden gives a sense of establishment to the garden.

The brief was quite open and one of the main conditions for the garden was to offer colour and interest throughout the year, that’s why the relative good size shrubs are placed along the edges while the centre of the garden is dominated by a lush planting of perennials and bulbs.

We kept the two existing terraces, although we replaced their stone slabs with delicate Belgian pavers laid in a herringbone pattern, and made sure that the nearest of the two drained away from the house. The lawn had always been too small to be of any practical use, and now we took it up, linking the two terraces instead with a brick path along one side of the site. The nearer terrace, which is conveniently close to the house, is the sunniest spot in the garden, and this makes it the ideal place for alfresco dining. We have furnished it with a table and chairs, and an array of low, ornamental pots that can be planted up for each season. The further terrace is a more intimate, sheltered space that we will furnish with comfortable sofas, low tables and our trademark fire pits made from elegant terracotta pots.

The only trees on the site were two limes growing beyond the terrace at the far end of the garden. We have left these alone, because they create a good screen without casting too much shade. However, the garden lacked flowering trees, and we have put this right by planting a mature, multi-stemmed Cornus kousa at its far end, where it acts as a screen for the shed, while forming an attractive focal point. Already five meters high, it will produce beautiful blossom each spring, followed by pretty autumn berries.
We have also planted Chionanthus virginicus, the fringe tree, placing it so that its delicately-scented, creamy-white flowers will overhangthe path in late spring and early summer. The fringe tree was already almost 2m tall when we planted it, and like the Cornus, it had to be hoisted into the garden over the roof of the house.

I love The Ancienne Belgique clay pavers (mix: 30% Oyster grey and 70% Camel) because it looks aged and as many other of my gardens it seems that those pavers have been there a long time. To make sure the paving was not over imposing on the planting the idea of using a 30% of darker bricks helped to blend the planting with the paved areas. I think it was a successful project, very largely commented so far on the social medias and I am glad it was our first attempt to collaborate with Vande Moortel.”