Chris Barnes Garden Design Blog

Creating a Corner of Paradise

2009-05-01T17:17:00.008+01:00

Extracted from an article by Sue Lupton in the Spring Horticultural Supplement. IOW County Press 2009

Garden Designer Chris Barnes has made dozens of gardens for clients around the Isle of Wight. She is best known for her naturalistic, coastal designs, featuring grasses, colourful perennials and unusual plants from the Mediterranean and the southern hemisphere.

But it is hard to know what to expect from the designer's own garden. Would it be sadly neglected, because of Chris's hectic work schedule? Or a showpiece, with manicured plants and neat edges?

In fact, it is neither. The garden surrounding her Freshwater home is an exuberant jungle that reflects Chris's love of plants, particularly hardy exotics.

She experiments with new plants and planting combinations. "Once I am confident that the plants work together and are suited to the Island's climate, I can include them in planting schemes for clients' gardens," said Chris.

"For example, I am working on a Balinese-themed garden in the Undercliff and a Mediterranean-style garden in Bembridge. Both designs are likely to feature favourite plants that I have grown at home."

Chris's garden is also influenced by her love of travel, particularly to destinations like Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

"British gardeners have always looked to far-flung places for inspiration. Foreign holidays remind us of bluer skies and more vibrant colours. Bringing tropical plants into our own gardens helps to keep memories alive."

Chris has used a shady area to create a cool, leafy border with tree ferns and other structural plants. "Having lived in Cornwall and travelled to New Zealand and Oz, I love tree ferns. Nothing matches their dramatic impact and the new fronds are simply magical," she said.

These are combined with astelias, ahrdy ferns, dianella and carex, which form a hardy ground cover.

"The hot border is inspired by Christopher Lloyd's exotic garden but I have chosen plants that are lower maintenance,"said Chris. A striking contrast is a zingy, hot border packed with colour and contrasting foliage. The centrepiece, Cercis 'Forest Pansy' is surrounded by dahlias, heleniums, abutilongs and crocosmia.

An important feature is an 'outdoor dining room', where Chris can relax. She has positioned furniture among lush foliage plants such as beschorneria, cannas, zauschneria, lophomyrtus and restios.

"Most of these plants come from the southern hemisphere or the Americas, reminding me of special occasions, people and places," said Chris.

Likle most gardeners, I rarely sit down and enjoy the garden. But when I do, eating outdors with friends or family, or just relaxing of an evening, it can be quite magical. The mood and fragrance of the garden can trigger wonderfulo memories."

A Cottage Garden

2008-03-27T15:03:00.003Z

After a big restoration project on this old farm workers cottage the garden was designed to complement the building and to fit the lifestyle of the new owners.

To create a country Cottage Garden but with a contemporary twist
To use natural stone, recycled timbers and sleepers from the original building to be incorporated into paths and edgings wherever possible linking to the house
A large, gravel swing-in gravel car parking area
Low maintenance as pos
A Terrace to entertain
Beautiful, aromatic sun-loving plants around the main doorway and to edge the paved terrace and car park area
To retain some of the original plants of the cottage if pos.
To use the dappled shade within the Garden as an area of contrast to the sunny, south facing terrace
To create a long, shadey border along the bottom boundary of the property to forma pleasing view from the house and terrance and to conceal the boundary fence
A romantic place i.e. an Arbor to incorporate fragrant planting
To find a solution to the problem area in deep shade on the boundary with neighbours

Over the past 5 years a long-term relationship has built up between Designer and Clients. This has accommodated both change and unexpected developments i.e. loss of tree in gale, old fruit trees finally succumbing, new babies and family additions, new extension…

A hands-on approach, combined with good plant knowledge have allowed for adaptions. A creative flair has led to the log Dragon and Tree Fernery in a difficult shadey area. The children are now making their own additions . . .

A Gentle Plea for Autumn Planting

2007-11-03T17:52:00.000Z

A Gentle Plea for Autumn Planting

At a recent seminar I attended on water-wise gardening and water-saving methods at the Hillier Gardens in Hampshire I was staggered at the alarming statistic that the south of England receives less annual rainfall than parts of the Middle East!?

So I thought it may be timely to remind all gardeners, new and experienced that one of the best times for any form of gardening activity is the autumn.

It has become glaringly obvious this year that the ‘window of opportunity’ for any real gardening activity is getting shorter. So begin to plan ahead for the autumn and don’t wait another season before you are caught out by either water-shortages or long dry winters or indeed a long wet spell!!

Autumn has always been the best time for fruit tree, ornamental tree and shrub planting, particularly bare-root hedging plants. But it is also an ideal time for most ground preparation and for planting of all garden plants. The soil will still be warm and with a decrease in day-time temperatures and increased rainfall, growing conditions are ideal to give plants a good start. If garden borders are given a good mulch of organic matter as well it will both help to feed the soil over the winter period and also help to conserve moisture if there is a hose-pipe ban. A bulk purchase of compost is a very good investment as is increasing water butt capacity and installing other rain saving devices.

I know I speak for most horticultural professionals when I say that we can best meet out clients needs if gardening projects are planned now and worked on over the autumn and winter period. It is simply impossible to fulfil all gardening tasks between the Easter Bank Holiday and the May Bank Holiday – so make plans now and begin to act on them. Because if all predictions are correct we are going to have to get used to these changing weather patterns and adapt our gardening practises sooner rather than later.

Chris Barnes – garden design, consultation and management http://www.chrisbarnesgardens.co.uk

Death by Gravel

2007-06-13T19:59:00.001+01:00

Having built and demonstrated the strengths of Gravel Gardens I find myself being asked to help others do the same. Starting from scratch is often easier than doing a re-design which was what I was asked to do recently. I wasn't sure I was up to this task when I saw the absolutely huge expanse of gravel that lay before me. What was the drive and where did the garden start and finish? It was really hard to tell there was so much gravel and so little planting.

But my Clients were really good folks and honest about the weaknesses of their newly acquired garden. They had seen the gravel garden at Afton Park with it's flowing grasses, architectural shapes and pools of seasonal colour and realised that their own gravel garden was wanting.

Fortunately, I knew a little of the history of both the house, site and garden so between us we were able to piece together what must have been the rationale behind this mass use of gravel. The site was indeed demanding. Over the years it had been used as a builders yard where concrete blocks were at one time manufactured, then a joinery workshop and finally a conversion to a beautiful barn home. The gravel had simply been poured down to conceal a multitude of sins, the worst of which was vast areas of solid concrete. The only redeeming factor was that the owners of the joinery workshop had laid some decking paths and tracking in and around the gravel which broke up this mass surface area. A huge concrete cruciform and two chronically congested wooden planters with a palm and dogwood desperate to be re-planted had been used to 'give interest' to the gravel plus a motley collection of pots of all persuasions with a curious collection of everything from miniature conifers (yuk! sorry but just don't like them) to Pennisetum grasses (lovely!). The previous owners had clearly tried but lost their way in this sun-baked, shallow soiled expanse of building materials.

But how to proceed? A closer examination of the planting within the gravel was revealing. It was clear that several plant species were holding their own and indeed beginning to colonise this inhospitable area. Stipa tenuissima was doing well, Alchemilla mollis , Calendula officinalis, Linaria were all self-seeding into the gravel. Large carpets of 'Snow in Summer' with its lax grey foliage and white flowers was dominating the edges, but lacked the all important contrast of a stronger colour nearby with the two exceptions of a stunning pool of magenta dianthus and a couple of mounds of Armeria maritima or Common Thrift. I was encouraged by these survivors and felt by adding to the pallete of plants within this garden and upping the ratio of plants to gravel we could alter the whole character of the garden.

As ever, I began to make my mental list of plants for hot, dry, situations over shallow soil. What I was looking for was a contrast in leaf shape, texture and form. Stronger colours were needed to punctuate the blandness of the gravel. More grasses were needed both tall spires and more flowing examples. Flat, creeping ground-huggers would offer another dimension also. I was definitely beginning to get excited. Then my Client took me over to their newly built Alitex Greenhouse which had some newly acquired stunning architectural plants in it. Now we were cooking . . . . .

Waterwise Gardening

2007-05-12T15:17:00.000+01:00

Hosepipe bans over recent years in the south of England and on the Isle of Wight have bought to the forefront the need to conserve water and practise ‘waterwise’ gardening techniques.With unreliable or changing weather patterns it is timely to consider how to manage our gardens in a time of water shortage.

In truth this can be an opportunity to try many new planting combinations and horticultural techniques which are regularly practised in parts of the world which have to deal with water shortages as a way of life.

In 1999 I built a large gravel garden at Afton Park which was designed with just such principles in mind. The choice of mainly mediterranean, perennial plants and drought resistant grasses, intermingled with tough species bulbs has, over the years, proved itself to be a winning formula. The dense gravel mulch serves to both conserve moisture and also to suppress weed growth. We have been delighted in recent dry, hot summers to see just how long-lived these displays have been. This garden never required watering, even through the driest spells. With a little consideration and effort at the outset I believe that most gardens can look good despite a hosepipe ban. My top tips would be:

Good ground preparation is essential and the addition of extra humous will help to hold moisture in the soil.
Choose from plants that are better suited to dry soils and low rainfall. Many are grey or fine leaved and of Mediterranean origin.
Water early in the day or in the cool of the evening when evaporation is lessened.
Try to group container plants together to ease the watering situation.
Be particularly considerate of new plantings of trees and hedges which need the opportunity to establish.
Mulch the surface of all soil and even container plants as this helps to reduce evaporation and conserve moisture.

As a garden designer I am regularly asked to design gardens for second home owners. These gardens by necessity have to survive periods of neglect while the owners are away. Planning a waterwise garden in these circumstances is essential to the success of the design. For more information visit Chris' garden design website

Our Declining Front Gardens

2007-04-25T09:47:00.000+01:00

A recent investigation by the RHS into our ‘disappearing front gardens’ has revealed some frightening statistics about the decline of the ‘front garden’ in many parts of the country. As many local people are aware there is a concerted effort to re-generate parts of the Isle of Wight and part of that thrust is to encourage householders everywhere to care for their particular plot. Working in a front garden is a wonderful way to meet your neighbours and share horticultural tips with passers-by adding to a general neighbourly atmosphere. Also visitors to an area are quick to comment on notable community plantings and special trees or plants of interest. With the increased ownership of cars and the problems with on-street parking many folks are reverting to using their front gardens as an off-road parking facility. This is quite understandable in some dangerous and congested roads. But please consider the side-effects of using only hard landscaping materials in what was once a green space. Not only does the collective loss of green space contribute to the greenhouse effect but the increased use of solid impenetrable hard surfacing adds to the problems of flash flooding when heavy rain falls and our pavements and drains have difficulty in coping with the volume of water. There are some wonderful design solutions to this dilemma. Yes, it is possible to park your car off road and also have a green and low maintenance planting around it. So, before you make that decision to transform your front garden please consider other ideas than concrete or bitumen.