A Cadogan Garden

By Robert Myers. The Cadogan Estate includes some of London's most famous streets and garden squares, including Sloane Street and Cadogan Square. A Cadogan Garden reflects the history and the future of the Cadogan Estate. It is a contemporary space, inspired by elements of the modern courtyards and squares of the Estate, while also referencing elements from its history.

A Cadogan Garden is conceived as part of a larger, shared, private courtyard off a residential street, for sitting and quiet relaxation, somewhere within the Cadogan Estate. The garden is set in a Chelsea of the future, and assumes a somewhat hotter and sometimes wetter London than today, so incorporates lush planting and cooling water canals under dappled shade.

The garden is assumed to be largely enclosed to the sides and rear by buildings, and visible from the street through implied railings at the front. The 'buildings' are represented by planted green walls divided into panels by strips of pre-cast stone. This references the emerging possibilities of the green architecture of the future.

A space at the rear of the garden is used for informal seating, and is paved with sawn York stone slabs. To one side of the terrace is a statue of Sir Hans Sloane, the founder of the Cadogan Estate. Seen through overhanging trees, this statue forms a distant focal point along the main path. The terrace is surrounded by a shallow canal, fed by a water wall. The canal leads to two shallow rills that flow through the planting, creating narrow vistas and informal irrigation channels.

From the terrace, stepping stones lead across the canal into other parts of the garden. A stone path runs from the canal along the side of the garden, where a long solid timber seat allows residents to view the garden in both sun and shade.

To the front of the garden is a small piazza area, paved with sawn York stone. The two water rills emerge at this point from the planting to join to form a small pool.

The planting is ornamental and designed mainly for semi-shade, with a high proportion of evergreens for year-round use and reasonable ease of maintenance. There is a double-layered tree canopy, created with tall palms, and smaller sculptural trees. The centre of the garden is occupied by a panel of low shrubs, ferns and herbaceous plants, creating a woodland atmosphere, using plants selected for foliage as well as flowers. The colour of this planting will be predominantly green and white.

PALMS
Trachycarpus fortunei

MIXED SHRUB PLANTING
Carissa macrocarpa
Choisya 'Aztec Pearl'
Gardenia jasminoides
Hebe stenophylla
Osmanthus delavayi
Pittosporum tobira
Schefflera actinophylla
Tibouchina urvilleana

LOWER CANOPY TREES
Schinus molle
or
Koelreuteira paniculata

CLIMBERS
Aristolochia macrophylla
Traschelospermum jasminoides

PLANTS FOR PLANTED 'JOINTS'
Soleirolia soleirolii
Ophiopogon jaburan
Polypodium glycyrrhiza
Rhododendron williamsianum
Sarcococca hookeriana var. humilis
Saxifragia x urbium
Scilla peruviana
Tiarella trifoliata
Viburnum davidii
Viola odorata
Woodwardia radicans
Zantedeschia aethiopica

WOODLAND PLANTING
Adiantum aleuticum
Arum pictum
Asarum europaeum
Aspidistra elatior
Asplenium scolopendrium
Bergenia 'Silberlicht'
Blechnum chilense
Buxus microphylla
Clivia miniata
Crinium asiaticum
Cyperus alternifolius
Cyrtomium falcatum
Davallia mariesii
Dianella tasmanica
Epimedium x versicolor
Francoa sonchifolia
Galax urceolata
Galium odoratum
Geranium macrorrhizum
Geranium maderense
Geranium sylvaticum
Heuchera cylindrica
Impatiens walleriana
Lantana montevidensis
Libertia formosa
Liriope muscari
Luzula nivea
Matteuccia struthiopteris
Millium effusum
Myrtus communis subsp. tarentina

PLANTING FOR 'CLIPPED PANELS'
Myrtus communis subsp. tarentina