In the garden of this charming, stucco-fronted villa in London's fashionable Notting Hill, garden designer Butter Wakefield has combined her passions for design detail, sustainability and storied planting. The house was remodelled by architects Michaelis Boyd for a couple relocating from the USA, along with their four young children. The renovations included a basement extension for a new swimming pool, and so the first two-thirds of the plot were "a void" with a blank canvas of lawn in the rear section.
What the garden did have, unusually for London, were two matching, attractive, old boundary walls. A gate set into the rear wall opens on to a communal square, and this shared space means the garden isn't overlooked or shaded by houses at that end, making it brighter than many city gardens. It also provides a leafy borrowed landscape.
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Field of Dreams - The naturalistic gem Hans Gieszen has created in former meadowlands near Utrecht in the Netherlands is the culmination of a lifelong passion
Ever since his mother gave him seeds as a small boy, gardening has been a passion for Hans Gieszen. He is completely self-taught, relying on garden visits and books for instruction, with one book in particular, Dream Plants for the Natural Garden by Henk Gerritsen and Piet Oudolf, influencing his style. “It was fascinating,” says Hans, remembering his first encounter with the book. “All those photos – pictures with mists and these tall and low plants and grasses. I realised I couldn’t do it in my small garden, but I kept dreaming and reading about it.”
WORLD OF POSSIBILITY
This superb tour of the world's botanical gardens highlights their vital role in saving the planet's flora, says Claire Masset
THE FEMININE TOUCH?
Does your garden have masculine or feminine style, and does it even matter? Head gardener Benjamin Pope unpicks gardening's gender stereotypes
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FRIENDLY ADVICE
When tasked with creating a garden for her friends, designer Neive Tierney found the project came with challenges - not least the need to include a wheelchair ramp and squeeze in a saltwater swimming pool
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ANDY JASPER
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In just under nine years, the owners of Arvensis Nursery in Wiltshire have created a mature garden that displays their high-quality perennials
Late summer dreams
From cool pastels and foliage to hot colours, designer Jo Thompson creates three stylish container combinations for autumn