A ‘non-designed’ London garden design

The National Garden Scheme persuades many private London gardens to open up for viewing by the paying public in support of a good cause. A recent visit to the garden at Nr. 51 The Chase in Clapham in South London was just fantastic. This garden had carefully placed design elements combined with the roughness of a lived-in garden. It  reminded me how over-planned and over-contrived modern gardens can become with expanses of terracing and kitchens and built in fireplaces.

The combination of old trellis work created from used timber sleepers covered in Chanomeles japonica ‘Crimson and Gold’, narrow crumbling brick paths weaving though clouds of yellow and pink tulips and all sorts of layers of planting accomplished over a long period and with lots of ‘mistakes’, gave it a time-worn authenticity