The finished courtyard garden - part 2

The Finished Courtyard Garden - Part 2

This garden is lit with seven lanterns, a charming light above the shed door and a weighted pond light that sits at the bottom of the water in the antique limestone trough and illuminates the water from below.

In order to create an even balance of light around the circumference of the garden, the lights ideally need to be opposite one another and go all the way around the garden so that there are no dark pockets. Personally, I find the best effect is achieved when lights are placed at a height of around 1.8 metres off the ground.

Try and think about garden lighting at the very beginning of your project, as you will need to install any electricity supplies first and this may require some time-consuming work.

Working with mirrors will also give your garden a magical effect. We place antique mirrors and trellis behind our water features so that the water reflects back off the mirror.

The Dovecote

It was Jack's idea to install a dovecote somewhere in the garden to add more architectural interest to the space, and we finally settled upon hanging it above the water feature. Its placement here helps to draw the eye up and extends the garden beyond eye level.

Putting Interest at Ground Level

I really don't like bare soil in a garden, and it's not something that occurs in nature either. To combat areas of bare earth in Jack's garden, we covered the base of his Acer tree with round beach cobbles and planted some ferns and a creeping evergreen perennial called 'mind your own business'.

This creates interest at even the lowest level of the garden and means that no space goes to waste.

Pot Placement

I chose to use large terracotta pots in Jack's garden and I've placed them in an asymmetrical layout in two opposite corners of the garden.

I always recommend having one or two oversized pots in a garden, as well as a number of smaller pots, as it's simply more interesting to look at and helps to create a sense of scale within the space.