The Daily Telegraph Garden designed
by Arabella Lennox-Boyd
The garden was inspired by the purity and restraint found in Japanese gardens.
With simplicity as her theme, Arabella’s design was a contrast of vertical and horizontal elements; of planting and water; of hard and soft.
A stone-edged, rectangular pool of water filled the centre of the garden, softened by planting on two sides. A serpentine path of stone, crossed by ribbons of white waterlilies (Nymphaea alba), linked the front of the garden to the planting at the back, and drew the eye towards a bamboo thicket.
The pool was punctuated by sculptural rocks, half-submerged in the pool, and four trees that framed the views and lent a sense of age and height to the composition. The largest of these trees was Pterocarya fraxinifolia, chosen for its association with water.
The plants in the garden were selected for their strong visual association and effect. Simplicity and precision are key to the planting design. Large green leaves (including Gunnera), grey leaves, vertical bamboo and iris, rounded shrubs and roses create a rhythm.
