Rose Orlik, a pre-registered member of the Society of Garden + Landscape Designers, tells Zia Allaway how she plans to transform a flat site behind a new-build home into a contoured, plant-filled Japanese-style garden that will meet the needs of its owners, a young family, and sustain local wildlife
Pre-registered SGLD member Rose Orlik studied History and French at university and then worked in communications for a legal environmental charity for 12 years before changing careers to tap into her creativity and pursue her love of plants. She trained at Capel Manor College, graduating with a diploma in garden design in 2018, and started up her own company, focusing on sustainable design, from her home near Bristol in the same year.
What is the background to this project?
A couple with two young children owns this new-build home on the outskirts of Bristol and the garden, which measures 3,229 square feet (300 square metres), wraps around three sides of the building and currently features lawn laid over a mixture of builders’ rubble and compacted, clay-rich soil, and two trees that the couple planted soon after moving in. They found me through my work using permaculture principles and asked if I could help them create a garden that would draw them outside.
Tell us about their brief
The owners are committed to sustainability and bird watching and asked for a garden based on permaculture principles and which had a modern, Japanese-style look. They wanted points of interest and planting that would look good from inside the house all year round, as well as natural play features for their five- and nine-year-old children, more space to eat outside, and a shady seating area where they could relax together. A noisy water treatment system with an ugly cover at the end of the rear garden also needed to be disguised.
How have you responded?
The focal point of the design is a gently running stream that flows diagonally through the centre of the garden. Traversed by natural stone boulder stepping stones that create a playful feature for the children, the stream empties into a wildlife pond, and the excavated soil will be shaped into two mounds to form an undulating landscape that subtly divides the garden and hides the water treatment cover. A Japanese-style pergola with a swing will provide a shaded seating space while the patio outside the house, which is large but narrow, will be reconfigured to create a more usable dining area. Other features include a mini meadow where the family’s guinea pigs can graze, a composting area, water-harvesting features, and planting to encourage birdlife.
While I am not slavishly following permaculture principles, the design does incorporate some of them, such as soil care via composting, reusing materials found on site, and sourcing any new materials locally. I think permaculture can be an intimidating word, but it basically means making sustainable choices.
What planting have you chosen?
A selection of trees inspired by Japan, including maples, cherries, and Euonymus europaeus ‘Red Cascade’, will offer food for pollinators and cover for birds. Native berried shrubs will also draw in birdlife, while the meadow and pollinator-rich bulbs and perennials will provide a feast for bees and butterflies throughout the year.
I am selecting plants that will cope with occasional flooding as the drainage is poor, although I plan to use more drought-tolerant plants on the raised mounds, which will also help diffuse the sightlines to the end of the garden and increase its visual appeal when viewed from inside the house. Marginals around the pond will create more habitats and cover for aquatic creatures such as frogs, and I am designing a trail of herbs and fruit bushes to allow the children to forage. The lawn will be replaced with low-growing Carex remota.
How are you meeting the challenges of the site?
Drainage is currently a problem, and the patio often floods after heavy rain. I have addressed this by using the stream and pond as a sump for water to drain into, while the new trees and dense perennial planting will also suck up moisture. The sound of the stream will help to distract from the noisy water treatment system, which was another challenge.
What makes the design sustainable?
I am keeping all the paving on site, reusing the slabs from the patio for the new terrace, the area beneath the pergola and a walkway to the front garden. The excavated soil from the pond will also remain on site, while the wide range of native and non-native plants will substantially increase the biodiversity of the garden.
Who will maintain the space?
I have designed the garden so it will need minimal routine care once established, and there will be a team of gardeners who will maintain it four to six times a year. The removal of the lawn and planting in beds rather than containers also helps to reduce the workload.
roseorlikgardens.co.uk