In July 2013, the family decided to redesign their garden with the aim of making it usable. Before the redesign, a long and unused lawn dominated the entire garden and the family tended to spend more time at the edge of the garden than in it. This garden design in the Zurich Oberland is a successful example of extending the living room outside. The interior of the house and the existing, smaller terrace are dominated by a Nordic, Belgian-English style with corresponding decoration. PARC’S has continued this style in the garden design.
Modern, cosy garden design with a mix of materials
Ornamentation. The spatial division was solved with a slight interlacing, which at the same time appears very tidy. The planting frames the lawn on the left and right and gives the lines a soft touch.
Although the garden has a very modern design, it does not appear cool, on the contrary: it is cosy, warm and relaxed. The interplay of materials should be emphasised: a small gravel path leads from the paving in the front area to the right behind the planting area to the garden shed, which is interrupted by a clinker paving. This break in the material helps to break up the large gravel area and also skilfully sets the scene for the water feature.
The materials create a harmonious, spatial division without fragmenting the space. The gravel path has a purely functional purpose and was therefore created behind the planting area. In addition, the garden experience is more varied if the passageway does not always lead across an open area. Depending on the incidence of light, the tall trees in the border cast an elegant play of shadows on the lawn and draw the eye to the rear part of the garden.
Utilising garden space
The garden has a long, narrow layout that formed an expressionless tube before the redesign. The garden offered no incentive to go to the end of the area. The large lawn area was no longer so important to the clients, as their children are already older and the space is no longer used purely as a play area.
Parc’s created a lounge area at one end of the garden and another at the other with a section of lawn in between, creating an exciting interplay. One of the family’s main wishes was to incorporate the element of water. Parc’s used the same waterspout that had been in the garden a few years previously, but with a new basin and a more prominent setting.
Balance between kitchen garden and garden design
The garden used to end in an unused corner, which is now home to a turquoise-coloured garden pavilion wrapped in hydrangeas. Behind the existing white garden shed is the «kitchen corner» with herbs and columnar fruit. This fulfils the wish to be able to use the garden for the kitchen as well.
Planting
Trees (in combination with old, existing ones)
- Fraxinus ornus ‘Meczek’ (globe ash)
- Columnar fruit
Shrubs
- Boxes
- Ilex crenata ‚Dark Green‘ (holly, globes)
- Hydrangea macrophylla ‚Endless Summer The Bride‘ (Farmer’s hydrangea)
Perennials and grasses
- Cardamine trifolia (cloverleaf foamwort)
- Allium aflatunense ‚Purple Sensation‘ (ornamental leek)
- Lavandula angustifolia ‚Hidcote‘ (Lavender)
- Tiarella cordifolia (foam flower)
- Vinca minor ‚Alba‘ (small periwinkle)
- Carex morrowii ‘Variegata’ (Japanese sedge)
More
- Hedera helix ‘Sagittifolia’ (ivy)
- Salvia officinalis (true sage)
- Rosmarinus officinais (rosemary)
- Melissa officinalis (lemon balm)
- Origanum vulgare (oregano)
- Satureja montana (winter savoury)
- Thymus vulgaris ‘scented cushion’ (thyme)
- Thymus citriodorus ‘Glden Dwarf’ (thyme)
- Verbena officinalis (verbena)
- Crocus chrysanthus ‚Ard Schenk‘ (Crocus)
- Crocus speciosus (crocus)
- Narcissus ‚Bridal Crown‘ (Narcissus)
- Tulipa ‚White Elegance‘ (Tulip)
Hedge
- Prunus laurocerasus ‘Rotundifolia’ (cherry laurel: Section had to be replanted because a part was removed for access during the construction period)
Materials
- Wooden privacy screen
- Gravel
- Clinker covering anthracite
- Luserna gneiss paving
- Wooden deck (existing, customised)
- New fountain basin (stones in the water/ existing spouts)
- Garden pavilion ‘Casentino’
Execution / Horticulture
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