Ideas for New "Room" #1

Only saw this now.

Either a "Japanese Maple Garden" with moss-covered boulders and miniature winding paths

or

a "Fern Garden" under a pergola that covers the whole area covered with that shade netting. Complete with moss-covered rocks again.

or

a "Bamboo Den".

or

a "Heather Garden" with Purple Moor Grass and Gorse.

or

an "Alpine Garden" but you're probably not into alpines. My own garden is inclining more and more into alpines and evergreen perennials. I'm giving any few shrubs that I have, away.

 

Could be a joint project - daughter as design consultant, you as the labourer!!!

 

I think a solo-project for her portfolio would be a better idea

 

Per chance saw Monty's on Gardeners World (recorded on Sky+, but recent, so probably still available on iPlayer). He had a square room divided into quarters with paths through middles, at right angles, and bordered with box. Looked rather good

 

Strange you should say that but I was only saying to Mrs K this morning that we should put something in the middle so that you can't see through from one side to the other (but have to walk around the obstruction). This is just two room, with a central path, so not worth of making it into a Vista per se.

Not sure I want a building, though, perhaps a gazebo type structure covered in climbers as a centre point with a circular (or oval to match the outer shape) box hedge.

But we want some structures elsewhere. The end of the Long Walk as per the picture I posted earlier:


Here's the one from East Ruston's King's Walk:


and I also fancy a Tiki Hut (if that's the right name) in the Exotic Garden.

I've seen those Straw Bale buildings on Grand Designs or somesuch, and been full of appreciation for people who can just hack down some saplings and lash them together to form a building that will actually stand up, and keep the rain out!, but I think a downside of the straw bale buildings is the enormous thickness of the walls; obviously, pro rata, less of an issue on a large building, but for something only a few feet in diameter I think it would be a problem? Insulation value is superb though ...

 

East Ruston Old Vicarage has a number of "round obstacles". The Roundabout near the entrance (gravel wide enough for vehicles to turn, so the circle is too large for my Room #1)


There is a circle with a raised pond; entrance from both ends is through a nice Rose arch



although that isn't really suited to the fact that I already have Hornbeam hedges planted for the perimeter

They have a Topiary Cones circle with a planter in the middle. That might work?




this from a different season:



and the only other one that occurs to me is the Circular Room at Hidcote. That is on the main vista, so different purpose in that it has a vista through it, a smart circular lawn in the middle, with a circular brick path around it (to encourage you to walk around) and then a circular planted bed around the outside:

 

Thanks Shiney, I may take a look between the Guided Tour and the Indian

 

Ah yes, I remember now. I went there at your recommendation after your Open Day two years ago. Completely barking mad show garden - I felt quite at home!!

 

Right Autumn is here, so work started.

Ahem ... first a confession. I haven't taken any of your advice :(

In the Spring we planted an oval shaped hedge, within the existing rectangular one. (Its nearly a circle, Room #1 is close to being square). It has been praying on our mind, as Mrs K and I wander around the garden, that the North-South path through Room #1 and Room #2 is not a vista we want to encourage.



What we have decided to do is to create a walk around the perimeter and build a pergola over it. The pergola will have, say, trellis on the inner "wall" at the entrance and exit, so you won't be able to see through the room, but on entry you can walk around the circular-ish pergola path.

Perhaps we will have an East-West path for access to the centre.

Not really sure what we are going to plant "inside" the circle ... I always think, when walking along under a pergola, that whatever is planted outside it is peripheral and I've never enjoyed, or felt a part of, that external planting. Maybe I've never visited a good instance??

Also not sure what to plant up the Pergola. On the one hand I have thought "Everything & Anything" so that we had colour all year e.g. a mix of Clematis and Roses, flowering at different times. On the other hand I have through some sort of dramatic Wisteria (like W. macrobotrys with racemes up to 6' long I think!) so it was just clad in leaves the rest of the year and the only view IS to look into the middle courtyard garden ... hmmm ... maybe a courtyard garden in the middle? Mrs K has always wanted a sunken-garden - hard to figure the drainage in flat-Suffolk on heavy clay soil though ...

 

When I went to Wisley some years ago there was a garden room dedicated to Michaelmas daisies. In July it was plain green, but 3 months later it would be a sheet of fluorescent colour, just when everything else would be looking a bit drab and seedy. I really liked the idea of that but you need the luxury of space to carry it out - and that you have definitely got!