Yard of the Week: Romantic Cottage Garden in a Small Front Yard
Landscape designers plant layers of grasses and flowers to create a gorgeous green space in front of a London home
Believe it or not, this rural-looking front garden is in the middle of London’s East End. Away from the area’s bustle and busy roads, there’s a row of Georgian workers’ cottages tucked away, down what feels like a leafy country lane. Fences are low, and the yards all benefit from borrowed greenery — either from one another or from the creepers covering the high wall opposite.
“They wanted to retain a level of wildness and some of the existing trees, and to emphasize the path,” says landscape designer Paul Duffy of GRDN, recalling the owners’ fairly loose brief. Duffy built on what was there, layering grasses and cottage-y flowers. “The sense of arrival for the owners when they come home is amazing now,” he says. Needless to say, they are delighted with the transformation.
“They wanted to retain a level of wildness and some of the existing trees, and to emphasize the path,” says landscape designer Paul Duffy of GRDN, recalling the owners’ fairly loose brief. Duffy built on what was there, layering grasses and cottage-y flowers. “The sense of arrival for the owners when they come home is amazing now,” he says. Needless to say, they are delighted with the transformation.
Taken a year after the previous shot, this photo shows how the garden has become gorgeously lush.
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New Zealand wind grass (Anemanthele lessoniana, USDA zones 8 to 10; find your zone) is just one of several grasses in the design; all those grasses help to create the garden’s naturalistic feel. Other plants in the mix include lily of the Nile (Agapanthus sp.), lavender (Lavandula sp.), foamflower (Tiarella sp.) and bear’s breech (Acanthus mollis, zones 7 to 11). In the foreground, you can see an inky-colored common elderberry (Sambucus nigra, zones 3 to 9) shrub. (This picture was taken soon after planting, when everything was fairly small.)
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This shows how the same part of the landscape looked a year later.
Duffy also planted salvias and geraniums amid the grasses, seen here. The red-flowered plant is a Persicaria.
The plan for the landscape shows it with an imagined bench in situ.
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Shop for patio furniture on Houzz
The herringbone-pattern brick path goes directly from the gate to the front door, and then turns left across the front of the house.
The rest of the paving is laid in a stack-bond formation and cuts the beds into four main sections. “The warm textures work really well with the red-flowering Persicaria [seen here],” Duffy says.
“The paving also ties in with the cottage garden aesthetic,” he continues. “It’s laid in different styles — the path is in herringbone to define it and its function, and to add interest.”
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“The paving also ties in with the cottage garden aesthetic,” he continues. “It’s laid in different styles — the path is in herringbone to define it and its function, and to add interest.”
Bexhill clay pavers: London Stone
A deciduous Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia, zones 3 to 10) on the wall opposite the fence makes for a lush borrowed backdrop in warmer months. “It’s lovely in the autumn too, as it turns red,” Duffy says.
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The designer used a metal edge between the beds and path to manage a change in level. This meant the trees could be retained and he could work with the existing levels when redesigning the space.
To allow the owners to make the most of the peaceful landscape, which is bigger than their backyard, Duffy created space for a bench on the pavers. The owners could add one for sitting and enjoying their wild corner of the city.
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More than a year after planting, the garden is thriving and also makes for a glorious green view from the house.
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Yard at a Glance
Who lives here: A young couple expecting their first child
Location: East London
Size: 355 square feet (33 square meters), 24¼ by 14½ feet (7.4 by 4.4 meters)
Landscape designers: Paul Duffy and Peter Robinson of GRDN
“The beauty of this front [yard] is the privacy,” Duffy says. “You could sit out here if you felt like it. There’s no road, just a quiet alleyway — and especially with the low picket fence, it feels very rural and cottage-y.”
In tune with the context, the design, which includes an existing mature apple tree, has an English country garden feel. “It’s very naturalistic. You wouldn’t want anything too formal here,” Duffy says.
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