Establishing the planting zones

Establishing the Planting Zones

An overview of the range of garden areas we created at Little Dartmouth, and my approaches to each.

1. New Meadow Around the Drive

One of the really key moves was to make a new wildflower meadow in front of the house with the new drive going through it.

There's a historic shelterbelt between the meadow and the house. Those trees were of a certain age, so I needed to build on what was there but put new trees in to futureproof the shelterbelt. I also created the three roundels further out in the meadow.

2. Second New Meadow

We created another meadow opposite, on the east part of the site, with some new shelter to protect the vegetable garden.

3. Lawns and Ha-has

The meadow around the drive created an inner space for the lawn around the house. This goes up to a new ha-ha where it meets the terrace, which keeps the views out to sea very open, and down to a new wall along the bottom. The original lower ha-ha maintains a connection between the lawns and meadows.

4. Small Garden Areas Around the House

We created a small courtyard to the rear so the kitchen could spill out into a sheltered space, and a planted terrace to the front.

• That front terrace is all about harnessing the view and the light, and enjoying the movement of the plants in the wind. We chose plants that would suit that intense light and exposure.

5. Walled Garden

Finally, we were left with the inner sanctum of the walled garden. The shelter of the buildings and walls provided protection on all sides, giving us the opportunity to garden in a space that isn't immediately impacted by big views and the outer world.

• This is a more intimate area, where the planting is much more specific and detailed.
• We moved from the big picture planting around the fringes of the site, with its sweeping simple moves, and slowly introduced more detail the closer we move to the buildings.

6. Productive Garden

On the slopes to the east of the property is a productive garden that catches all the light from the east, south and west. We planted a new orchard alongside this, which helps shelter the vegetable garden and is itself protected by the established trees along the boundary.

• We planted one more buffer of native trees to the north, screening off the new farm buildings.
• This was important because we wanted the working farm to drop back and become a separate entity from the main garden.

We were able to give each of these garden areas a specific planting that was designed to create a distinct mood, whilst being adapted to those conditions: in each area, we were fully focussed on choosing the right plant for the right place.