Walthamstow Village
(Photos by Poppy Loves and Alexa Ryan-Mills Garden Design)
This Walthamstow-based couple - one half of which is London-based lifestyle blogger Poppy Loves - sought an outdoor space that was an extension of their home. They wanted a garden that was liveable in, even when the sun wasn’t blazing. They wanted to sip a coffee, read a book, do some work, have a snooze and have somewhere for their daughter to play.
The small space at the rear of a refurbished Victorian house was overgrown with a pond the clients were keen to get rid of. It felt small but the clients were happy to trust my design ideas and we separated the space into sections. We created a generous decked dining space surrounded by beautiful but low maintenance shrubs and perennials such as Agastache (Korean hyssop), Astrantia (masterwort) and Erigeron karvanskianus (fleabane). Trachelospermum jasminoides (star jasmine) and roses climb up a beautiful timber screen and across existing fencing painted a dark grey to blend into the background and make the green of the garden pop.
A stepping stone path made of York stone reclaimed from the site nestles among gravel and Campanula (bellflower) and leads to a small lawn, additional seating and a multi stem Amelanchier or juneberry tree which is covered with white blossoms in spring. Here they can relax and watch their daughter play. The original rear wall is underplanted with shade-loving Sarcococca (Christmas box), Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’ and Helleborus x hybridus (hellebores).
“A huge thank you to Alexa for transforming our crazy mess of a garden, into something glorious and gorgeous and exactly what we wanted. We thought we had a tiny London garden, but in fact, after Alexa worked her magic, we now have a garden with two separate spaces, which are both far larger than we ever thought possible. We have places to eat, read, play and lounge... and even after just one year, parts of the garden have matured, giving us the wild meadow vibes we had hoped for. To find a garden designer that could take a bunch of jumbled thoughts and turn them into a magical reality, plus come into budget, plus put up with my incessant Whatsapping afterwards (“IS THIS A WEED?” and responding each time so patiently, was in our minds, impossible. Turns out, we were wrong. Thank you so much, Alexa. You only went and nailed it.”
Poppy Loves
