John and Liz had a rectangular section of garden about 18 metres long by about 6 metres wide, at the end was a large mature Willow tree, the rest of the rectangle was made up of weeds and grass. This section of garden had laid unused for several years since they had moved in, they were bored of the view from the kitchen window and were looking for something other than the usual ‘lawn – patio – mixed border’ combination.

Using the Willow as a feature of the new garden, I designed and made a water garden. It starts with a spring, under the Willow, where water emerges from several places from bare rock and flows along a shallow stream. This is planted with Dwarf Mace Reed, and Butomus umbellatus (a flowering Reed). The water flows past a pebble beach and on to where the water drops a few inches into the pond, keeping noise levels to a minimum. The pond is divided into two sections. The first section is a pond (great for the kids to splash around in) or where you may sit on a rock and dangle your feet into the water. The second section is divided by boulders and contains a variety of marginal water plants. The shallow stream, with its reeds, allow the water to warm up in Summer also the reeds help to keep the nutrition levels down and the water clear. This is supported by a bio pressure filter fitted with a 30 Watt UV bulb as well as an Ion Emitter which mineralizes the water and prevents the formation of fibrous algae.

Beside the pebble beach and stream is a small handmade ‘Snug’ with a sloping ‘living roof’. Inside are the electrics to manage the lighting, pump, pressure filter, and ionator as well a double socket to allow one to sit and work with a laptop or plug in additional lighting or music. There is also a shelf inside, on which are a number of items found whilst digging out the garden, some are pretty old my favourite is a fragment of crockery that depicts a steam paddle boat.

BEFORE

AFTER

The planting for the garden is informal and is designed to give a feeling of a natural woodland glade. Under the willow and along both sides of the stream the planting is of a woodland nature; Foxgloves, Bergenias, Ferns, Primulas, Heucheras, Geraniums, Hostas, bulbs. Whereas outside the drape of the the Willow, the planting is a Flowering meadow mixture. The area closest to the house is being kept as a normal lawn so that it may be used to sit and relax or entertain friends. This whole garden is screened off from view from the outside by overlapping Willow fence panels (thin Willow branches Woven through to make up an attractive natural and rustic looking screen) on which we are growing a mixture of Clematis and HoneySuckle.

Throughout the garden and in the Snug is a low voltage lighting system on a Dawn2Dusk sensor meaning that every evening the lights come on at dusk for a pre determined time and then switch themselves off. garden lighting transforms the use of your garden after dark. To ensure all the plants get enough water there is an automatic irrigation system since a large willow will create dry shade and the shallow living roof will dry out in a couple of days as a planter would.