My New Garden

Garden designer Franchesca Watson’s new home garden is a reflection of an innate sense of style and a minimalist philosophy to living

- Franchesca Watson

i have had many gardens, beginning with my first one in Gauteng and then getting to grips with a fynbos garden in the Cape. I have had big and small ones, formal and naturalistic, including one up the West Coast in a nature reserve and another on the East Coast near the beach. For the last four years, my garden has been limited to a long line of clay pots and a collection of succulents on my loft windowsills. I am planning a new garden, crystalised by the lockdown. My new garden will only include what is important and beautiful to me and will reflect my more minimal way of living.

It is a medium-sized property with the house in the middle. I have a sunny part facing north and a shaded part facing south. It has no natural features, other than a pair of venerable oaks framing the property.