Family Garden, Dulwich
This garden in Dulwich, South East London had already been hard-landscaped, I was brought in to create a Planting Design.
The clients are from New Zealand so we wanted to work with plants which remind them of home
We chose plants which would be happy growing in the UK climate that can adapt to our changing climate, using a colour palette of plum, lilac, yellow and deep red.
To withstand games of football and frisbee, the plants needed to be both child-friendly and durable.
Following the survey, I suggested which trees and plants could stay in the design and the shapes we could prune them into - so we could keep some history of the garden to work with.
An outdoor dining area had been built to complement the exterior of the house, interior of the kitchen and family room.
The planting scheme features: Dicksonia antartica (tree fern), Phyllostachys nigra (black bamboo) and Pittosporum ‘Nanum’ for evergreen structure and form. Long flowering Verena bonariensis and seasonal bulbs for pops of colour throughout the seasons. Trachelospermum jasminoides (Evergreen star jasmine) climbers for wonderful scent during the summer. Hackonecloa macra grasses, Sedum and Dryopteris ferns soften the hard landscaping edging along the lawn.
I had the pleasure of working with Nicola Kelly, designing and planting my new garden after extensive landscape works and thoroughly recommend her.
Nicola listened to our requirements, likes/dislikes every step of the way, incorporating established plants/trees and successfully designed the garden that captured all of our requirements.
We now have such a beautiful and peaceful view from our kitchen that makes me smile every day. Nicola is extremely knowledgeable and consultative, she is very easy to work with. She shared initial ideas, then we reviewed drawings and options before deciding on our garden today.
She worked with us to ensure our planting budget was met, and discussed any changes or modifications during the procurement phase. The plants Nicola got for us were of an extremely high quality.
Nicola and her team were very through during planting demonstrating great attention to detail. She is also a very friendly and generally a lovely person to work with.
Kylie, Dulwich Village
