Divided Rural Garden

The typical English garden was probably made 40 or more years ago, for the surrounding trees are mature. Gardens at that time were usually divided, with lawns and flowers near the house and a greenhouse and possibly a small vegetable garden beyond. Such an arrangement can produce extremely attractive results when the elements of the garden are linked by luxuriant foliage and when there is adequate dry paving connecting the various sections of the "working" garden - the vegetable and herb area beyond the greenhouse - to the house.

A paved herb garden would work well with a greenhouse; a lattice plan of brickwork, infilled with further brick panels, alternating with brushed concrete. For this concept, a raised brick pond is a focal point. The beds are filled with herbs, while barrels contain chives, making a variation in plant forms. Such a layout makes the garden a lovely, scented place in summer, busy with bees, and will also provide an attractive, enclosed area in winter.

Another idea is for a more modern cottage garden. The angles of the greenhouse roof should be repeated in an entry arch to the garden, and then again in a staggered pond and the path leading through the garden. The angularity should be contrasted with soft, flopping herbaceous plants.

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