urbanise
awarded a silver gilt medal
designed by Ian Rochead
sponsored By Guildford High School
constructed by Bushy Business Ltd
Press and Media Page Please click - here
URBANISE (definition: to impart urban habits) is a garden designed
for a young couple who have just moved from rural surrounds into a
more hectic urban environment. The garden fits around their busy
lifestyle with soft, subtle fairly low maintenance, summer flowering
planting and room to dine alfresco on a warm summer's evening. Most importantly, its provides a space that is enjoyable,
Scroll to bottom of this page for a link to view more of the garden functional and practical for their lifestyle whilst eradicating the ambiance of the urban environment.
The garden's central feature is a raised deck area curtained with vertical planting by the use of the enviromat a living carpet of sedum plants one of the lowest maintenance garden products available in the UK. This connects the area to the surrounding planting and cleverly conceals a compartment for the storage of the most basic gardening equipment. When entering the garden, the eye is first drawn to a display of three cascading waterfalls. This creates a focal point and also helps to tune the ear into more soothing sounds than that of the passing traffic, as well as offering movement and with it a welcome distraction.
To reach the raised deck area you have to walk around the side of it and enter at the rear of the garden via two counter levered oak steps. On your journey you first pass a raised flowerbed, constructed using rough sawn oak containing a beautiful architectural rhus tyhpina with a magnificent umbrella shape creating a impact in the winter months as well as during the growing season. The tree is under planted with plants suitable for dapple shade such as persicaria affinis 'Superba' with its dense spikes of soft pink flowers, epimedium grandiflorum 'Rose Queen' and alchemilla erythropoda a dwarf variety of the gardeners favourite alchemilla mollis planted for its scalloped, bright green leaves which catch droplets of water that look like quicksilver.
RHS Hampton Court FLOWER SHOW 2009
As your journey continues you pass areas of soft naturalistic planting, you then turn left then right following the raised deck area and your eye is then drawn to the rear of the garden where in front of a 2 metre high crimson coloured rendered wall are two magnificent beech columns and a row of 5 standard trees. The trees alone create another focal point in the garden whilst also introducing height, dappled shade and provide seclusion from neighbouring buildings.
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You finally climb the steps to the raised deck area, put your evening coffee down on the table, begin reading the evening newspaper, relax and feel totally URBANISED.