The Easy Care Garden

While many intricate and complex hard landscaping projects are best left to the professionals, some of the hard elements of this formal garden designed by Oliver Schurmann could be tackled by skilled DIY enthusiasts. 

‘The idea behind this design was to create a garden that people can build themselves if they wish. The materials are all widely available and, while the raised beds are quite large, you will excavate enough topsoil to fill them when constructing the foundations, paths and pond,’ says Oliver Schurmann. 

The two interlocking raised beds define the overall formal structure of the garden and create an instant feeling of space, he explains. ‘Trees and shrubs are the backbone of this garden and that’s where the raised beds come in. The garden is quite small so you want to constrain the growth of the trees. A raised bed will allow them to do this without encroaching on the roots of other plants.’  

As the garden is facing north they have selected shade-tolerant plants that will provide interest throughout the year such as Pachyphragma macrophyllum, with pretty white flowers blooming in spring and foliage that may tinge red in autumn, and Epimedium ‘Flowers of Sulphur’, whose leaves flush from red in spring to green in summer and copper in autumn.