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Garden design ideas

greenwhitegreen

5 years ago

last modified: 5 years ago

Hello all!

I moved into my property about 3 months ago, and started work on the garden. Fencing and clearing done, but now stuck on what to do with the garden. It slopes from right to left, so currently on 2 levels and it also has an apple tree in it.

Current plans:

To put a summer house at the end of the garden, on the right hand side - there is already a base where a small shed used t be, so that will be extended to take the summer house.

To plant flowers along the left side of the garden.

My dilemma is with the tree in the middle, and also the 2 levels. I'm thinking of some paving from the house to close to the tree, and grass from there to where the summer house will be. Also thinking of making some feature with the area the tree is. Confused!! Any advice will be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

Featured Answer

Sonia

5 years ago

I’m thinking to lay a terrace from the house to the tree, or carrying on around the tree. A raised wall beyond that to help with the 2 levels maybe? Imagine snoozing in the shade of the tree on a hot summers day, lovely. Here are a few pics of small gardens incorporating trees for inspiration.

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Comments (9)

Sonia
5 years ago
Hi, I love trees but I do think the Apple tree is far too big for your garden and it is limiting what you can do with it. The way it is leaning makes me think it could fall down one day. I personally would have it cut down. We do have quite a few clever amateur garden designers on Houzz so hopefully one of them will comment soon!
rachelmidlands
5 years ago
I don’t know, I quite like the tree. I think it affords some privacy from the neighbours, however I wonder if it blocks a lot of light coming into the house? If you plan to keep it I’d perhaps get an arborist to come give the tree a health check. Otherwise I think your plans sound good. I’d remove the path by the border as I don’t think it’s necessary and I might make the border round the tree roots circular perhaps with a tree bench! Here’s some inspiration:
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greenwhitegreen
Original Author
5 years ago
Thank you so much for the comments so far.

Forzaitalia, exactly what I thought initially when I saw the tree, it has to go!! Infact i was convinced it was dead back in December. But I do like trees and will take rachel's advice first and get it heath checked. It is beginning to bloom and my gardener did say it is in good condition. we plan to trim it down a bit, so it isn't too wide, spreading everywhere.

Rachel, thank you for the pics, those are lovely.

I will have the first part of the garden done in a couple of weeks and share some pictures.

Any more ideas will be great.
Sonia
5 years ago
That sounds great greenwhitegreen. Apple trees can grow huge but of course they are beautiful in blossom and then give you lovely fruit in the autumn. The tree may live lol! I’ll search around for some design ideas, but the lovely rachelmidlands is a dab hand at drawing up garden plans!
rachelmidlands
5 years ago
Awwww, thanks for the mention forzaitalia, always love your ideas and advice as well. X. Can’t promise anything but I’ll see if can get the sketchpad out later:)
greenwhitegreen thanked rachelmidlands
rachelmidlands
5 years ago
Managed to do a few sketches for you. Please bear in mind that I’m not a pro by any means and they’re not to scale, this is just a hobby of mine:) Best thing to do to see if things will fit is use pegs and string. Tried to keep in mind that the ground slopes and I’ve kept the path in most but made it narrower but you don’t have to keep a path if you feel you don’t need it. I did two with tree and two if tree is cut. If the tree does get cut then it will leave a stump so I reckon that the soil level will still be raised around the roots, it does rot eventually tho. Don’t feel like you have to follow any of these designs they’re just to give you some ideas, hope you like:)
(And if photos look messed up then click on them for right image, Houzz has been having trouble with images just lately).
greenwhitegreen
Original Author
5 years ago
Thank you rachelmidlands, fantastic ideas from you. A lot to consider now. thank you so much!
PRO
Neil Jones Design
5 years ago
I think, as others have eluded to, you have to either embrace the tree in the new design or loose it! It looks like it sits close to the house and casts shade so it may be that you have a smaller, shaded seating area near the house for sitting with a coffee etc with a path to the summer house and larger patio at the rear where the sun sits? Think about staggering the path to add the feeling of a greater space rather than a straight path. The tree could sit within a low planter or brick surround to take up the level changes but becareful not to alter the soil level around the base otherwise this can kill the tree.

Good luck with the transformation!

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