New-build in Cambridge

New-build in Cambridge

A terraced new-built family house in a central area of Cambridge with a small, square garden enclosed by the house and the garage, visible through the broad glass wall and only access to the garage via a concrete slabs path running in front of the house and along a fence.

The brief

The tiny size, the close walls of garage and house, and the tall fences dividing the garden from the neighbours’ didn’t allow the use of many features. Tall plants wouldn’t have fit, taking all the space and shading the garden. To create a view of interest from the house and assure the garden could be used by the client and her family, it was decided to lay the central area of the garden with a patio. The client chose composite tiles to allow future changes, laid on shingles to assure a perfect draining. All around the patio, the garden was planted with perennials, ornamental grasses, bulbs, and self-seeding annuals like Nasturtium. The use of Miscanthus and Verbena bonariensis provided the upwards movement necessary to avoid a clustered feeling, while the mix of different forms and colour of leaves and flowers created a lively environment. The species were carefully chosen for a pyramidal blooming changing in colours and sizes through the seasons, with the first bulbs growing in February and the last flowers of Erigeron karviskianum lasting up to Christmas.