Watch the video - an eco-friendly front garden with storage
"From the moment we had our initial consultation we felt confident that Nick and Douglas had not only taken on what was important for us, but would also be able add their unique vision to our brief. Nick and Douglas's passion for what they do and their professionalism made the whole process smooth and very enjoyable. They provided regular communication during the design and building process and we are extremely happy with the results. We are already lining then up to design our back garden in a few years time!"
- Hannah & Ed, W5
The front garden, before and after its transformation
Proving that you can have it all, is this front garden we designed for a young family in West London. There were a number of elements that the clients wanted us to incorporate into the design: off street parking, a large bike and bin store and, oh yes, flowers and evergreen structure!
The significant amount of hard landscaping that was needed within the design, was balanced with well planted borders and the addition of an evergreen hedge. We also used a variety of eco-friendly paving materials to add further visual interest to the scheme.
The design has the parking area to the right, a central path leading to the front door and plant borders to the left with the large storage unit abutting the boundary fence.
The left hand side of the garden has a generously planted border running the length of the path and a second deep border running the width of the bay window of the property. We also incorporated a narrow third border running from the front door to the right of the front door.
Border with Alliums
The majestic Allium ‘Globemaster’ make a real statement as they stand tall amongst the yellow Hakonechloa macra Aureola grass, purple Heuchera and the grey foliage of Lychnis alba.
Bay window border
By using seasonal colour and evergreen foliage, the garden will remain attractive for 12 months of the year.
We also installed trellis to either side of the front door, with evergreen jasmine ensuring a fragrant welcome to guests throughout the summer.
Doorway framed with jasmine
With its evergreen foliage and summer-long fragrant blooms, Trachelospermum jasminoides forms a perfect frame to the front door.
To add a traditional touch to the design, (and to add even more evergreen interest and structure), we added a small brick wall with iron railings and a mature hedge of Portuguese Laurel.
Portuguese laurel hedge border with attractive brick wall and railing
For the parking area and for the area in front of the storage unit, we used a resin-bound gravel. This is not only an attractive material but is also very eco-friendly, as it is porous and allows rainwater to pass through into the ground below. We also used natural sandstone paving for the path and black porous cobble sets to form an attractive edging to the drive.
A sandstone and cobble pathway with an eco-friendly gravel substrate for the driveway
A new front door was installed and painted the same colour as the large bike and bin store, which completes the harmonizing of the whole scheme.
A brand new front door painted green to tie in the whole scheme
So, we went from this….
The garden before
To this…
The finished garden