The herb terrace

The Herb Terrace

Though small, this sheltered and sun-drenched area provides a very distinct mood and a pleasant place to be in. Combining aesthetics and practicality, this is a planting that has ornamental value, but is also one in which everything is edible.

Concept

The herb terrace is a smallish area contained by walls on two sides, with the terraced kitchen garden just above it. This was an opportunity to create a very particular moment.

The client had two huge old stone troughs, which collect rainwater and provide dipping troughs for watering. These create a centre of gravity in the herb garden and helped us create a distinct mood.

• Even within this area, there are several distinct moments – the trough with waterlilies in it, the quince tree providing some shade, and the wall allowing us to grow shade-loving plants.
• This space isn't divorced from the areas around it – there's a narrative that runs through the garden, created by repeating a few motifs, such as the clipped forms, right the way though.
• Here we've used myrtles – the small form, Myrtus 'Tarentina' – clipped into cloud shapes and repeated throughout the space. These solid, architectural shapes allow more informal and ephemeral planting to come and go around them.
• We've used a lot of evergreens here: rosemary in particular absolutely loves the heat and dry conditions, forming great big mounds by the troughs. These are effective in their simplicity – all you need do is reach down and touch it for it to provide something lovely with its scent.

Planting Choices

Since the herb terrace adjoins the productive garden, the planting reflects this and nearly everything in it is something you can use in the kitchen. This maintains the mood of the productive gardens above us, even though this area is more ornamental in design.

Hard Landscaping and Seating

The hard landscaping is very simple, brought together by a continuity of paving and a few seating areas.

• Into the retaining wall of the lower terrace, we've built a long, curved seat that allows you to look back to the walled garden.
• We've also put a simple seat in a recess between the clipped myrtles and rosemary, which looks back to the kitchen garden to create a mirrored effect with the other seat.

The stone trough has become a perch – it's not a formal seat, but it makes a lovely point of focus and a place to pause.

Layering the Planting

You can think about planting as a series of building blocks. Here in the herb terrace, the quince tree has a space underneath it that has some shade and is ideal for underplanting to retain the view through.

Layering in the herb terrace:

• The single tree animates the space; stopping it feeling flat and making it feel occupied.
• Then, the volumes of clipped myrtles provide lovely static shapes at a mid-level.
• Finally, the layered perennials: low-level origanums and thymes for ground cover, with fennels and valerian soaring through those for contrast and seasonal flux.

These building blocks – whether created by planting, furniture or features such as troughs – animate a space, help you move through it, and provide the gravity for more ephemeral things to come and go.

How to Treat Walls

If you're lucky enough to have walls in your garden, it's important to think about how those are clothed. I always try to leave some walls unplanted so that you can feel their architecture.

• There's an old Virginia creeper on the back wall that was already here. We've kept that, as it makes a good simple, refreshing backdrop, while allowing the lovely stone wall to show in the winter.
• We didn't want to treat all the walls the same, so another wall in the herb terrace is planted with espaliered pears. These are neatly pruned so that you can see some of the wall through the pears, and that sense of order reflects the fact that this is still a productive garden.
• In the walled garden, some of the walls are completely festooned, while other areas are bare.

Plant Directory

Myrtus 'Tarentina'

Santolina