In urban, even suburban gardens, it seems there’s no escaping the outside world – the noise of traffic, neighbours, barking dogs and leaf blowers, the smells of uncleaned barbecues and the sight of ugly power lines. With patience and imagination, you can block out these invasive species and create a haven where you ignore everything except your own peace of mind!
Create an outdoor living space that feels just as comfortable, and private as the interiors of your home. Here are our top tips to do it:
Use your garden as a screen
Enhance a sunken garden with a sense of enclosure by planting a Leyland cypress hedge. This grows at speed – up to 1m a year – and can reach 25 metres! Then make the scene even more cosy with an outdoor fire framed with ivy and sweet box (Sarcococca confusa) below. It produces tiny, sweetly scented flowers in winter.
You don’t want to block out all sounds – the crunch of gravel draws attention to your immediate environment, including the climbing hydrangea (H. petiolaris) creating a lacy effect on the blazing red brick wall.
Encourage casual outdoor living
Gravel gives your outdoor area a sense of the Mediterranean – where casual outdoor living has been part of the culture for centuries. Gravel is also permeable, so you don’t need to worry about water run-off or puddles after it rains.
Add a modern touch with corten steel step risers, then temper its strong, rigid lines by growing grass where the treads would be!
Divide your space into sections
Shielded but not shaded by the cypress hedge, an arbour gives you the opportunity to train flowering climbers over it, such as jasmine. Complement this third dimension with raised beds made from old bricks or stones.
You can build another arbour to support a swinging day bed, then still maintain your privacy by growing a shorter screen of lilly pilly or orange-scented murraya. Unlike the cypress, they produce flowers.
