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GardensDesign Dilemma
parmsuk

Rear wide and narrow garden design advise. Approx. 23m width

parmsuk
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago

Hi,

Recovering from an house renovation/extension we are now focusing on the rear garden. We are looking for some initial guidance on our back garden design which is approximately 23m wide. Depth varies from 8m to the narrowest of 5m to the large conifers which provide excellent privacy but without its negative points such as blocking of light in afternoon sun. These conifers depth vary from 2.5 to 3.5m!.

I have attached a plan with measurements of the garden and range of photos to hopefully give you an idea what we are dealing with.

Our criteria for the back garden is as follows:

1. Regain some depth or the illusion of depth when looking out.

2. Patio area for dining out with an area for both BBQ charcoal and gas.

3. A pagoda where we can have a fire pit and be seated regardless of the weather.

4. Easy maintenance

5. Water feature which can be seen from the corner window of the extension.

6. Everygreens but raised beds also to incorporate plants etc.

7. Afternoon - Early evening Sun area where we can dine.

Based on the pictures and dimensions what would the recommendations be to incorporate into our design.

Dimensions of garden (excluded the shed and hedge next to it as its pending removal).

Link to PDF or BMP plan for dimensions:

Garden dimensions - PDF

Garden dimensions - BMP file





The rotting shed and the hedge which is to right of it will be removed as it hides the corner of the garden which is full of rubbish!..Maybe a patio area?





Corner window, we want to have a "feature" that can be seen from here.


View from inside the house




Thanks in advance.

Featured Answer
  • PRO
    User
    4 years ago

    The other thing you can do to the hedges, whilst keeping it as a great screen is to possibly take some depth back from underneath. I didn't see your plan to start with, but it struck me over night that such a large hedge is probably very deep. Upon looking at your plan, this confirms it.


    The hedge starts at 8 feet deep and goes up to 12 feet, that's a huge amount of garden to waste.

    Depending on what's behind the hedge, you could prune from the bottom and retain a portion for screening. This type of thing:-

    Whilst you wouldn't want the hedge shaped as above, and would want it straight across, you see that you claim the ground back at the bottom. You could have bed with mulch and possibly get some bright shade loving plants in




    Link to Thompson and Morgan Shade loving plants section - Have a read of this article for top tips on shade loving plants

    • Comments (11)

    • PRO
      User
      4 years ago

      The easiest way to get back some perspective when looking out is to cut down the huge evergreen hedge at the back. It's very high and blocking your light. Does it belong to you? As a rule of thumb evergreen hedges should only be a max of 2m in height.


    • parmsuk
      Original Author
      4 years ago
      yes, the conifer belongs to us..behind are the back of houses. We don't mind if we loose some privacy from upstairs view as most bedrooms apart from guest bedroom overlooks the front of the house. Important that we have privacy when we are in the garden or looking out from the extension. Thank you so much for the preview image of what it would look like with the conifer trimmed down.
    • parmsuk
      Original Author
      4 years ago

      Wow, thanks for the input. Initially we discussed the idea cutting back the conifers with the our tree maintenance company when they come around twice a year. However, they showed us that just behind the conifers outer green layer is just sparse brown aged stems, cutting back the growing tips would just expose this and it would not recover unfortunately. We could cut from the top a reasonable amount (like your first image shows) but sufficient so that it provides enough privacy from line of sight when looking from the garden. I've attached some aerial views..(I think the hedges are trees have been automatically "ENHANCED" to look more fuller than they actually are!). We did consider biting the bullet, taking it all down and then starting again with new fencing and then some form of fast growing plantation (trees, bamboo etc), something that would at least give us a minimum 1 floor in height privacy reasonably quick.




    • Jonathan
      4 years ago
      Wow by my reckoning those conifers take up a third of your garden, will put the garden in shade until lunchtime and I bet the grass doesn’t grow well near them either.
      So personally I would have them out to make your garden bigger and then find other ways of giving privacy to the garden. Personally I would be looking for some standard trees, perhaps Portuguese Laurel for a little evergreen screening above the fence without it being space hogging thick barrier between you and the neighbours. And given it is such a wide garden I would probably add some other trees to break it up- perhaps a couple of silver birches acers etc.
    • Jonathan
      4 years ago
      Also you should just check where the sun is. Personally I think north end of the garden where MATH has suggested a patio will get shaded from the afternoon sun by the house. Depending on how much your neighbours house creates shadow I suspect the south end of the garden will be better.
      I think there is a strong argument for a garden designer who may well suggest a figure of eight lawn to help add depth and interest
    • Juliet Docherty
      4 years ago

      I have a garden this shape and they are very difficult to design. I agree with the suggestion to remove the hedge as it takes up so much depth and depth is what is lacking. Also it is so solid and forces the eye from side to side, exaggerating the dimensions further. I would replace with pleached Hornbeams or something similar. To alter the perceived dimensions I would use diagonals, it will make the space look much bigger.

    • PRO
      User
      4 years ago

      You are quite correct about cutting the outer layer back and it not re-growing. However, I would suggest that you could cut back the bottom 7 feet or so to make a canopy and have the exposed tree trunks, at least you get back the 10-12 feet of garden at the bottom, whilst retaining privacy at the top.



    • parmsuk
      Original Author
      4 years ago

      Okay, I get what your saying now. So this would give back the depth of the garden. I'll speak to the person who care for these and see what they say. Thanks for all your helpful info...

    • PRO
      User
      4 years ago
      last modified: 4 years ago

      Kind of a bit like this, but the beds would actually go further back in your case i'm sure, and you would just adjust the height of the conifers to suit. It's a rough idea!



    • Mary Mary
      3 years ago

      Hi can I ask what you decided to do in the end.

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