Yard of the Week: Tropical Haven for Playing and Socializing

Photos by Nigel Gomme

Yard at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple with two young boys
Location: Notting Hill neighborhood of London
Size: About 5,920 square feet (550 square meters) including outbuildings; about 4,844 square feet (450 square meters) excluding them
Designer: Nigel Gomme at Cityscapers

“The site was a dream,” Gomme says, referencing this view of the backyard, with an old church tower beyond. “With a backdrop like that, you’ve got a great start. There are also four huge, 150-year-old plane trees (Platanus sp.) that fill the garden with a lovely dappled light.”

The existing trees were a significant factor in the design. Not only did they contribute to the plant choices (which needed to be happy in the semishade created by the tree canopy), but to protect the roots, Gomme couldn’t excavate or lay hard surfaces near them.

“The semishade is one of the reasons a tropical garden works,” Gomme says. “You can use a lot of ferns that flourish in shade, and also some palm trees that will do well in this kind of dappled light.”

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It’s easier to understand the triangular plot from the landscape plan seen here. At the very top is a glass-fronted studio, designed by architecture firm Coupdeville. On the left is a raised, angled, decked pathway that provides an alternative route from the bottom of the yard to the top — handy if the lawn’s wet.

A cabin with a sauna and hot tub is located at the bottom right, and another raised path hugs this apex of the triangle, providing access as well as seating.

Below the lawn on the left-hand side is a sunken courtyard with a dining area that’s accessed directly from the house. To reach the lawn, there are steps up from here. Each decked pathway can be reached from the outer edges of the lawn on either side.

The raised walkways are made of yellow balau hardwood. “It’s from Indonesia and is really hard and really stable,” Gomme says. “It’s also one of the more affordable hardwoods and is [Forest Stewardship Council-] certified — the only type of wood we use.”

This path zigzags its way through the garden, leading from the courtyard by the house up to the studio at the top of the yard. “The angular design reflects the shape of the garden itself,” Gomme says. Seen here is the trunk of one of the massive plane trees. “It gives you an idea of just how mature they are,” he says.

The lush plants visible in this shot include Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra), a semievergreen, shade-loving perennial grass, and kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa), a small tree that produces white flowers. “The flowers are amazing in midsummer and look like origami,” Gomme says, adding that this compact tree is great for small gardens and can tolerate quite a lot of shade.

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This photo shows the continuation of the path and some of the plants on the opposite side of the walkway.

In the foreground on the left you can see spiky New Zealand flax (Phormium sp.) leaves, hydrangeas, hostas and dahlias. Just by the step is a dwarf Japanese mock orange (Pittosporum tobira ‘Nanum’) shrub. “This is an evergreen shrub I like to use a lot,” Gomme says. “It’s really versatile.”

Also visible are two of the many tree ferns used in the garden, helping to frame the path.

Another walkway, from where this shot was taken, leads to the cabin area with sauna and hot tub. From this view, you can see the glass-front studio.

On the right you can see the loop of an irrigation system hanging on the tree fern. “Tree ferns need watering from above, as they take water through the crown,” Gomme says. “These are Jurassic plants. They were around with the dinosaurs and survived them, so are tough as old boots. They’re also very striking and other-worldly, because they’re so primordial.”

This view of the second walkway shows the cabin in the distance.

Korean rock fern (Polystichum tsussimense) softens the pathway’s edges.

The cedar-built cabin was made using the ancient Japanese craft of shou-sugi-ban. The process involves charring timber — in this case, with a blowtorch. Not only does it create a wonderfully textured, blackish finish, but it also preserves the wood, increasing its water-repelling abilities and reducing fungal growth.

On the left, you can see the trunk of one of the vast plane trees, while on the right is a palm tree saved from the original garden.

There are several seating areas in the garden: this L-shaped area opposite the cabin; a triangular bench on the left-hand walkway, and generous, comfy seating in the sunken courtyard.

Here’s the bench close up, with bamboo growing behind it on the left.

“Bamboo is invasive in the wrong context, but if you’re prepared to cut back the tough, thick runners it puts out each year, it’s not too much of a problem,” Gomme says. “The problem with bamboo is generally if you leave it to run rampant, as it gets on with things without much maintenance, and then it will spread.”

Planting tip: Clumping bamboo, as opposed to running bamboo, sends new growth close to the original plant and is easier to manage. Bamboo is best grown in a container or confined space. A root-barrier liner can help to keep it from spreading too much if you are planting in the ground.

Turn around from this peaceful seating area and you have a view across the lawn from the bottom-right-hand side of the yard, looking toward the studio.

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This is the walkway bench on the studio side of the garden. In the foreground is one of Gomme’s favorite plants, ‘Grace’ smoke tree (Cotinus ‘Grace’). “In the autumn, it turns almost psychedelic shades — intense reds, yellow, purples. It’s incredible,” he says.

In fact, the whole garden has been planted to look good in the autumn; many of the grasses will turn shades of gold as the season kicks in, and here you can see two Japanese maples (Acer palmatum ‘Seiryu’ and A. palmatum ‘Osakazuki’) adding rich reds to the mix.

The wife in the couple is Italian, and these tall, thin Italian cypress trees (Cupressus sempervirens) on the left are a nod to her culture, as well as a vertical accent and an evergreen foil to the deciduous plants.

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The house is down the steps you can just see here. The left-hand walkway is visible to the right of the firepit.

At the bottom of the steps is a shady, sunken courtyard. Gomme planted tree ferns in a raised bed behind the bench seating in this area. “We used the ferns almost as a silhouette and wanted the planting to remain open, so you can see the rest of the garden from here,” he says. Evergreen grasses, a climbing vine and another smoke tree (Cotinus sp.) also are featured.

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