PLANTING A SHADY, SLOPING FRONT
GARDEN IN NORWICH (NR1)
Turf had failed in this NR1 front garden more than once, which paints its own picture. The garden is steeply sloped, shaded and sits under a mature magnolia - basically the impossible dream for grass. So instead of trying again, we stopped fighting the site and planted a woodland garden that suits it.
This is the kind of job a planting plan is made for: working out which plants will actually survive where they've been put, rather than picking ones that look nice in the pot.
The problem
A sloping front garden under a magnolia is about as hostile to a lawn as it gets. Deep shade for much of the year, leaf drop, soil that dries out under the canopy and a slope that sheds water before it can sink in. What was left was a patchy, bare bank that looked tired from the street, and a space the client was fed up of greeting them every time they came home.
The approach
The brief, more or less, was a garden that looks good without needing constant rescuing. Rather than fight the shade, the design uses it.
The planting runs in bands across the slope. That helps hold the bank in place and makes the gradient look deliberate rather than awkward. Layered groundcover sits under the canopy, with ferns and shade-tolerant perennials in front for texture and flowers, and evergreen structure so it still looks like a garden in January.
A bark mulch traps moisture and copies the woodland floor, which is how shade plants like to live. Foliage spills over the edge of the low wall to soften it, and the planting stays low at the front so the view out to the road stays open. A bit of natural stone adds structure and contrast.
Why shade isn't the problem
People tend to treat shade as something to fix. It isn't. Plenty of good plants prefer it, and a woodland scheme is one of the few planting styles that gets better with a canopy overhead rather than worse. The trick is choosing plants that flower across the seasons, so it isn't just fifty shades of green by June.
The result
After a tough summer, the planting has settled into something that looks like it's always been there, and it needs very little beyond an occasional tidy and a mulch top-up. The bank is held together by roots instead of bare soil, and once the plants have established, it will be green all year, with no lawn left to fail.
If you've got a shady or sloping patch where grass keeps losing, it's usually the site telling you something. That's a conversation I'm always happy to have.
Failed turf on the plot (before)
Woodland-inspired planting scheme (after)
Design sketch for the planting plan
Very tired look before planting (before)
PLANTING A SHADY, SLOPING FRONT
GARDEN IN NORWICH (NR1)
Turf had failed in this NR1 front garden more than once, which paints its own picture. The garden is steeply sloped, shaded and sits under a mature magnolia - basically the impossible dream for grass. So instead of trying again, we stopped fighting the site and planted a woodland garden that suits it.
This is the kind of job a planting plan is made for: working out which plants will actually survive where they've been put, rather than picking ones that look nice in the pot.
The problem
A sloping front garden under a magnolia is about as hostile to a lawn as it gets. Deep shade for much of the year, leaf drop, soil that dries out under the canopy and a slope that sheds water before it can sink in. What was left was a patchy, bare bank that looked tired from the street, and a space the client was fed up of greeting them every time they came home.
The approach
The brief, more or less, was a garden that looks good without needing constant rescuing. Rather than fight the shade, the design uses it.
The planting runs in bands across the slope. That helps hold the bank in place and makes the gradient look deliberate rather than awkward. Layered groundcover sits under the canopy, with ferns and shade-tolerant perennials in front for texture and flowers, and evergreen structure so it still looks like a garden in January.
A bark mulch traps moisture and copies the woodland floor, which is how shade plants like to live. Foliage spills over the edge of the low wall to soften it, and the planting stays low at the front so the view out to the road stays open. A bit of natural stone adds structure and contrast.
Why shade isn't the problem
People tend to treat shade as something to fix. It isn't. Plenty of good plants prefer it, and a woodland scheme is one of the few planting styles that gets better with a canopy overhead rather than worse. The trick is choosing plants that flower across the seasons, so it isn't just fifty shades of green by June.
The result
After a tough summer, the planting has settled into something that looks like it's always been there, and it needs very little beyond an occasional tidy and a mulch top-up. The bank is held together by roots instead of bare soil, and once the plants have established, it will be green all year, with no lawn left to fail.
If you've got a shady or sloping patch where grass keeps losing, it's usually the site telling you something. That's a conversation I'm always happy to have.