Garden Design Dublin

Garden Design for a Rectangular Garden

Work is nearing completion on a new garden designed by Garden Design Dublin for an average sized rectangular back garden just outside Greystones in Co Wicklow.    This garden design would be suitable for many similar sized gardens in Dublin.  The garden is not large at approximately 7m wide and 14m long.   The major challenge in this garden was that there was an existing patio across the back of the house constructed from plain square concrete slabs which the clients wished to keep.   The seemless integration of this patio into a new garden design was therefore very important to apperance of the finished garden.

Garden Design Curvaceous Borders

The existing garden had some planting, however, none of this planting appeared to be thriving as the builder’s of this estate had, as is commonly done, not finished the garden with good quality topsoil.   Therefore in order to get new planting to grow healthily new topsoil would have to be brought in for all new borders.

The new garden design integrated the existing paving into the new design by building a new circular patio overlapping and cutting into the

Garden Design nearing Completion

existing paving.    This was complemented by a border of a similar shape on the opposite side of the garden which also cut into the existing paving.   The main material used in the circular patio was a granite cobble of a similar shade as the patio which was then also used to wrap around the garden as lawn edging.  The granite cobble finishes the edge of existing paving therefore pulling the existing patio seemlessly into the new garden design.   Borders were created down each side of the garden with generous curves and finished on the left side with a path to the shed.  At the end of the garden a raised border of upright sleepers was

Working on Granite Cobble Circle

constructed offset into the corner to provide some height in the garden design and a feature to view from the house.   The small semi-circle offset to the side of the granite circle is a dedicated position of a chiminea to warm up cool summer evenings.  The shed which is located in the opposite corner will be surrounded by borders filled with attractive planting.   Finally, both the shed, surrounding fences and rear wall are to be painted to provide an attractive backdrop to the new garden design.

Visualisation of Upright Sleeper Wall

Bloom 2014 – My Favourite Show Garden

Bloom 2014 was a great event this year.   The weather stayed fine and the crowds turned out to enjoy the day.    We visited on the bank holiday monday starting early before the crowds got too large and we were still able to get a good view of all the show gardens.

My favourite garden was by Andrew Christophere Dunne and was called ‘You Talk I’ll Listen’ .  It recieved gold and the ‘Best in Catergory’ award which i think was richly deserved.    The design was very strucutured but softened with lovely lush green planting.  It featured a very comfortable looking seat in a raised corner surrounded with three corners of the garden filled with Birch and woodland style planting.   You just wanted to go over to the seat and submerge yourself in the space.   The dominate colour of the hard landscaping was purple which just happens to be my favourite colour too.  The central space was open with some other benches making it very sociable.   Considering that the design was quite contemporary, with sharp straight lines, the overall feeling was quite comforting and inviting.  This I believe was due to the planting which was gorgeous and used a lot of different textures and green shades to soften the hard landscaping.  Foxgloves in each corner wound themselves through the lower branches of the birch trees beautifully.   Even the corner steps were softened with planting between each riser.    A truely lovely outdoor space.

Front Garden Design

Front Garden Design is very important to give your house kerb appeal.   A front garden which is unkempt and unfinished can make a great house look poor when viewed from the road.     Often front gardens are used mainly as parking areas for cars which can take over the space.  A good front garden design can take into account the need for car parking and still provide a very attractive space which enhances the front of the house.

This house in Rathfarnham was very neglected, with unfinished paving and areas overtaken with weeds and overgrown shrubs.    The house is on

House before new Design

a lovely road in a great area and required a major upgrade to compliment the house itself and the location.

A large area of parking was required in the front garden for three cars and the owners did not want any grass but wished to soften the house and parking with planting.   There were three wonderful mature Birch trees already within the garden with lovely white bark on their trunks which needed to be exposed and shown off.  These were used to create the major focal point in the front garden.    An area for bin storage was also required which was integrated into the front garden design but screened from the road by a wooden panel fence.

Beautiful Birch Trees in a Front Garden Design

This front garden design was based on rectangular borders complimented by a grid pattern of granite cobbles within the main decorative gravel parking area.     The front door was complimented by granite paving steps with granite paving continuing along the front of the house outlining two borders framing the front door filled with standard ligustrum topiary and box hedge edging.   The paving then also continues around the garden as an edging to the borders which provides a nice finishing detail to the borders.

The planting to the left of the garden was designed to enhance the Birch trees with spring

Visualisation of Layout

bulbs and Foxgloves.   Standard Camelia’s across the front of the garden provide some screening from the road without being too large or providing too much shade.

This front garden design was planted last September and this year will be its first year of full growth.    We look forward to seeing it maturing beautifully to provide an attractive setting for this lovely house.

Front of House

Garden Steps with a Contemporary Twist

Add a contemporary design twist to your garden design with these garden steps and associated curving retaining garden walls.   These steps and walls were created for a Garden Design which was built in Greystones, Co Wicklow last year.  As well as being functional, these garden steps and walls are a great garden feature in themselves which adds an unusual garden design twist to the garden.

The garden design was for a back garden which had a slope upwards from the house towards the rear wall.  It was neccessary to level off the area nearest the house to create a patio area on one level for a table and chairs.  The design twist in this garden design is that the walls are created in complementary convex and concave shapes as they interface with the patio along the width of the garden, making them very distinctive and unusual.   The garden walls are also lit up at night with blue uplighers set just below the wall which creates a wonderful bluish light against the cream plaster in the evening.

Some people may regard a slope in a garden as a a bit of an annoyance.  However a slope can be a great advantage as it allows you to add a feature into the garden design by creating different levels and building in interest.     If the slope is significant you can even build in a number of levels.   In this case the total slope up the garden created a difference of 1.25m.  The garden wall was built 500mm higher than the patio and the remaining slope was taken up across the lawn gradually from the top of the curving wall,  towards the rear wall.  This garden design is particularly contemporary, which is in part due to the use of the cream plastered finish.  However, you could do a similar design using

Curving Raised Wall

different materials,  for instance using natural stone and get an entirely different look which would create a totally different garden design style.

The planting along the top of the wall will add a gorgeous finish to this garden design style with alternating Box Balls,  ground cover Roses (Rosa ‘Flower Carpet Red’) and Agapanthus (blue and white)  coupled with some spring white and purple Tulips.   Directly along the edge of the wall at the front we planted a number of different spring and summer flowering low growing perennial’s and herbs including Aubretia, Iberis and Thyme.