In this small London garden, designer Stefano Marinaz opted for dense planting lifted by the rich tones of the hard landscaping and furnishings
WORDS KATE JACOBS PHOTOGRAPHS ALISTER THORPE
Landscape architect Stefano Marinaz does not believe in change for change’s sake. When he was asked to work on this back garden in London’s Chelsea for the couple who live there, he was keen to evaluate its existing strengths and weaknesses. “On every project, I always ask myself why we need to change existing features. If there isn’t a good reason, then we don’t,” he explains. Back then, in 2016, the garden was given over to York stone crazy paving, with only a skinny border of planting around its edges. The boundary fences were mismatched, while a curving staircase of grimy London stock bricks led down to a small pond at lower-ground level. “The flat fence drew your eye right to the end of the long, narrow plot rather than contributing to the beauty of the garden,” says Stefano.
The whole space was shaded by a mature Catalpa bignonioides tree, which Stefano was keen to preserve, “because of its aesthetical value”. It is now pollarded back to a height of five metres every three years. The Catalpa and the shade it provides inspired the woodland planting scheme here. “A shady garden has become more welcome during our increasingly hot summers,” says Stefano. He dramatically increased the planted areas to cover more than half of the garden, with deep beds along one side – around the base of the tree – and at the back of the garden, so that the owners feel immersed in greenery. “I like to keep the hard landscaping simple and maximise plant diversity. I’m always keen to celebrate the beauty and variety of nature; it’s good for the owners to have interest through the seasons and for biodiversity too.”
Starting the growing season with “spring ephemerals”, from Galanthus nivalis to Narcissus ‘Thalia’, Stefano relies on emerging perennials such as Epimedium x rubrum and Epimedium x warleyense ‘Orangekönigin’ to hide the bulbs’ yellowing leaves. Then there’s the interest from lime-coloured bracts of Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae and Luzula nivea flowers as well as foliage plants such as Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’. Cardiocrinum giganteum, with its tall spikes of trumpet-like flowers, is
