Shady Terrace House Garden in East London

Designed by Katrina Kieffer-Wells. This long urban garden was almost completely bare, but for two large established trees. The client had attempted to construct a pond in the near right corner using green slate boulders as a decorative surround and requested that this should be finished and included in the design.

22 Dec 2016 | 1 min read

Full Garden

The interior of the house had a modern, contemporary feel fused with Victorian architecture. As the patio doors lead directly from the kitchen/diner into the garden, the garden becomes very much an extension of the house – as such the style of the interior was of particular consideration in the design the exterior space.

Garden space becomes an extension of the house

The final design created a low maintenance garden with a simple and contemporary feel. The area directly behind the house was laid with decking, running half way down the left side of the space. New wooden fences, to replace the existing worn out wire fences, were erected down the right of the garden, onto which a selection of clematis and everlasting sweet peas were trained.

New fences replace old

The main area of the garden consisted of a tapered, oval shaped lawn, encircled by a raised bed following the same shape as the lawn. A smaller, tapered oval raised bed in the middle of the lawn served to slightly mask the bottom of the garden, breaking up the space and helping to create a sense of intrigue.

The simplicity of the borders was echoed in the planting, which consisted of white flowers and green foliage. Cool, crisp and elegant, a white planting scheme provides an air of harmony and tranquillity, and is well suited to the style of the garden and the interior of the house. An area devoted to graceful architectural ferns helped to accentuate the simplicity of the space and serves to provide a stunning and effective display throughout the year.

Redesigning the layout of the client’s existing pond, using state boulders together with a powerful pump to produce an effective waterfall, helped to create a striking water feature. The pond and surrounding area was given life with the addition of water lilies and other aquatic and semi-aquatic plants. A bowed Cedrus libani (ssp.atlantica) ‘Glauca’, trailing branches in the water, presented the final flourish to the space.