A North Facing Garden in Haggerston

North Face greens can sometimes feel daunting and limiting in terms of creating a verdant and colourful garden, but with the careful selection of plants and a targeted design they become much treasured oasis of calm and tranquility, the equal of any south facing gardens.

In this garden near Haggerston Station in London, the client wanted to turn their grey, weed filled garden into a colourful and soft oasis of calm with enough space to entertain family and friends on those long summer evenings. The old brick retaining wall was taken down and the garden was pushed back a metre to allow for greater space near the back door of the property. An English Oak sleeper retaining wall replaced the hard brick to give a softer feel to the garden and help better integrate the decking on the lower terrace with the garden and paving in the garden proper. Reclaimed yorkstone paving was used for the path and patios and a lawn was installed with carefully selected grass for shady areas to soften the feel of the garden. Deep beds were installed with three large 6ft tree ferns (Dicksonia Antartica) forming the foundation statement plants, around which were planted loose block planting of shade tolerant hardy perennials, grasses and bulbs carefully selected to ensure colour and interest throughout the year.