We design and plant a lot of city gardens. We love them because it is a chance to make a small space very special. We try to bring as much greenery as we can to a world which is filled with hard surfaces: a garden in the city provides a haven, a sanctuary which is away from it all. City gardens put different strains on plants, but also offer something as they are frequently sheltered from wind or extremes of temperature. They provide microclimates and often need to use vertical space - walls or fences - as a growing surface. Plants need to be chosen carefully so that they will never be too big, and surfaces need to blend well with the surrounding architecture.
Front gardens can enhance the surrounding street and set the tone for the house to which they belong. In many cases, front gardens form an important part of the streetscape, and the garden is a gift to the wider world as well as to the owner. If there is a back garden, sometimes it's a good idea to dispense with the lawn out the front: it's one less bit of mowing to be done! Gravel makes an economic and environmentally sound surface: it drains water away slowly and is not as 'hard' as solid surfaces such as cobble-lock or tarmac.
A front garden near Dartmouth Square in Ranelagh. Flowers and shrubs are all white-flowering, as well as the Wisteria climbing up the railing on the front steps.
A front garden in Rathgar, full of flowering perennials, shrubs and grasses, with a simple gravel pathway leading to the front door and side gate. This is a relatively low-cost and high impact way of dealing with your front garden.
Another front garden, this time right in Dublin 2. We chose to have a plant-filled space with a central open area enclosed by a low box hedge. Planting around the edges is luxuriant, old-fashioned shrubs and perennials such as Lilacs, Roses and Lavender. It provides a degree of privacy to the house and is perfect for catching the evening sun.
This garden is on a very busy road in Dublin City Centre. It screens the house at upper levels and has an interesting 'understorey' at ground level of stripes of neatly clipped box hedge. Panted with a variety of different birch species and some unusual shrubs such as Cornus alternifolia and Luma apiculata, it is a very small space with a high impact.
A flower-filled garden in suburban Dublin, using salvaged Dublin cobbles as edging and Wicklow granite gravel. As the garden matures, small trees and shrubs such as Lilacs and Hyrdangeas will give the garden more privacy from a busy road. We used tall grasses such as Miscanthus to provide blocks of screening around bins, and shade tolerant perennials nearer the house where the shade is densest.
A front garden we planted a few years ago. A small 'glade' enclosed by interesting trees and shrubs such as a snake-bark maple (Acer davidii), Hydrangea 'Annabelle', Acanthus mollis, Magnolia sieboldii, Pittosporum 'Irene Patterson'. It gives privacy to the house, is full of seasonal interest and elegant plants, and also contributes to the general streetscape.