Designer Profile - Joe Swift qualified at the English Gardening School in 1990, then set up a successful design and landscaping company. For the past 11 years he has also co-presented BBC Two's flagship show Gardeners' World. Five years ago, he co-founded Modular with designer and and entrepreneur Nick McMahon, and landscape contractor Allon Hoskin. Modular offers clients high-quality, bespoke garden design to an agreed set budget, and has won numerous awards for designing innovative classic and contemporary gardens.
The Brief -
The clients wanted Modular to transform their unkempt, overgrown and unused outdoor space into a low maintenance, classic town garden, which they and their teenage children could enjoy together.
"To break up the long, narrow plot, we divided it into three distinct spaces, with an entrance area close to the house, a dining section in the middle and a chill-out zone at the far end, where the family can relax on hammocks and cushions."
"Planting helps to screen off the sections, but still allows a view of the distant urn, which draws you to the end of the garden. Welsh slate paving and hardwood decking also help to define the areas, in addition to adding colour and texture to the design. Dark-coloured materials such as slate are not suitable for every site, but we felt this garden was light enough and large enough to cope with it.
As the clients were not keen gardeners and preferred low-maintenance plants, we thought box balls would be a good choice as they provide a sense of permanence, structure and formality, and only need a light clip once a year. The evergreen Japanese mock orange is one of my favourites, and we used it in the centre of the scheme, together with tall grasses. For extra height we included Japanese maples, which produce a real wow factor when they colour up in autumn. The urns are designed as focal points, their shapes helping to link visually the front and back of the garden, while a storage box, hidden behind the table and chairs, holds the clients' barbecue, cushions and tools"
1. Planting For a Small Space
"Go for layers of planting, with some at waist and head height, such as tall grasses like Miscanthus. Limit yourself to fifteen key plants and repeat them throughout to create a cohesive design. A common mistake is to fill a small garden with small plants, but this will give you a rather flat, one-dimensional design."
2. Using the Colour Green
"If you limit your selections to this undemanding colour, you can't go wrong. It makes you focus on the texture, shape and form, which provide more enduring interest than a quick blast of seasonal colour."
3. Consider Your Boundaries
"Fences and walls are possibly the most important design element of a small garden, as they are the first thing you see. Here we rendered a brick wall and painted it white, which bounces light back into the space and provides a smooth canvas for the plant shadows, while the slatted fence links with the decking and offers a great texture."
Key Plants
Acer palmatum 'Osakazuki' (Japanese maple)
Buxus sempervirens (box balls)
Miscanthus sinensis 'Silberfeder'
Pittosporum tobira (Japanese mock orange)
Polystichum setiferum (soft shield fern)
Verbena bonariensis
