As a result of his creativity, design expertise and passion for creating gardens, Tim Austen has not only become one of Ireland’s best known garden and landscape designers, but he’s made it onto our radar here in Australia too!
The Ian Barker Gardens team were particularly impressed with his ‘Family garden in Greystones’
Tim’s brief was to create a traditional garden for use by a young family that included space for active and passive recreation with some interesting, yet manageable planting. The design was based on retaining the best elements of the existing garden structure, whilst adding a new twist.
The garden was opened up by removing overgrown vegetation, thereby allowing the main spaces to be redefined within the garden. The result was the creation of an upper and lower garden that are linked by a main pathway winding throughout. The views across the garden are enhanced, whilst retaining enough vegetation in the central part of the space to provide visual interest and give definition to its various parts.
The garden boundary is composed of existing tree and shrub planting, augmented by a new hedge on the southern side of the site and informal woodland planting on the northern side. The specific boundary lines were formed from wooden fencing, with trellising to provide support for climbers and creating immediate privacy from adjoining properties.
The children’s play house was re-positioned in a central play-area and is surrounded by perennial planting including an extensive herb garden providing year round colour, texture and scent to stimulate all the senses and flavour cooking. This part of the garden also includes spherical oak trees for added interest and provides contrast with the horizontal form of the ground-cover planting. The existing paving retained at the lower end of the garden not only provides a destination for a walk through the garden but also provides a potential position to site a future summer-house.
The extended patio to the rear of the house increases the outdoor living space and provides an individual style to the garden. It combines blue limestone paving and wooden decking to complement the architecture of the house. Subtle lighting was designed to create a soft ambiance for evening entertainment. The lower part of the garden contains utilitarian space for a shed, a wood pile and a composting area that is screened by a newly planted beech hedge.
The overall planting design stimulates the senses with an array of colour, texture, form and scent, whilst also being beneficial to a variety of wildlife including butterflies and bees. The garden was designed to provide space for personal reflection, play and to entertain others – and we think Tim has nailed it.
For more details on Tim’s beautiful garden in Greystones, click here
