If you live by the sea with a northfacing back garden, it makes sense to make the most of your sunny front garden and even make it your primary space for growing and relaxing. This is exactly what Sarah Morgan decided to do ten years ago, when she moved to her Whitstable bungalow with its views of the north Kent coast, but tucked along a quiet cul-de-sac, away from the prevailing sea breezes.
"When you design a front garden," explains Sarah, "you have two viewpoints: one from the road and the other from the house. We wanted ours to be somewhere comfortable to spend time sitting in sun or shade, for our first coffee or an evening drink, not just a route from roadside to front door.
"My husband fancied a 1950s garden to go with the house, but when I looked back, they seemed formal and suburban. So we went with a more 1960s vibe, and my inspiration was Whitstable with its fishermen's buildings and beach plants, such as Crambe maritima, Echium vulgare and Centranthus ruber, that seem to grow with minimal human intervention in spite of the weather."
Although their road is not a busy route, they wanted some privacy, which they created by cutting existing shrubs into neatly clipped hedges and filling the gaps with strategically placed, vertical, tanalised wooden slats interplanted with tall grasses. The northeast wind blows cold, but this garden is luckily protected by the house.
Esta historia es de la edición August 2023 de Gardens Illustrated.
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Esta historia es de la edición August 2023 de Gardens Illustrated.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
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Charlotte Rowe's elegant design for a country garden in Hampshire fuses modern and traditional styles and captures the Zeitgeist for naturalism with a contemporary edge
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JOINT ENTERPRISE
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MATTHEW BIGGS
Horticulture's nicest practitioner on his journey from sweeping playgrounds to Gardeners' Question Time via offering gardening advice to insomniacs
YOUNG AT HEART
The garden of the late, great landscape architect Jacques Wirtz, which is more than 50 years old, is now being renewed by his children
PITTOSPORUM
These evergreen shrubs come in a multitude of sizes and shapes with shiny, often variegated or colourful leaves and small scented flowers
Festive flourishes
Entertain in style this Christmas with ideas for natural decorations from Swallows & Damsons
LUKE SENIOR
A former Ruth Borun scholar at Great Dixter, Luke is now one of the garden's full time gardeners