{"id":21773,"date":"2023-05-04T13:07:50","date_gmt":"2023-05-04T11:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gardensillustrated.com\/?p=105592"},"modified":"2023-05-04T14:35:22","modified_gmt":"2023-05-04T12:35:22","slug":"a-rustic-small-garden-ideas-from-ann-marie-powells-own-garden","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/rss_feed\/a-rustic-small-garden-ideas-from-ann-marie-powells-own-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"A rustic small garden: ideas from Ann-Marie Powell\u2019s own garden"},"content":{"rendered":"

Designer, writer and presenter Ann-Marie Powell has managed to incorporate areas for relaxation, socialising and children\u2019s play into her own small plot. Words Camilla Swift, photographs Rachel Warne <\/p>

By Niki Goss\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 04 May 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Ann-Marie Powell<\/a> is an accomplished presenter and writer as well as a talented garden designer<\/a> and landscaping expert. Her garden, practical, functional and beautiful, mirrors her passion for gardening, her infectious energy and wickedly throaty laugh. It may be small \u2013 \u201cit\u2019s just a suburban garden<\/a> really\u201d \u2013 yet she has made it work for everything she loves most in life: entertaining, gossip, children, chilling with a glass of wine.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss another of Ann-Marie Powell\u2019s gardens on The Art of the Garden\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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The lean-to workshop nestles at the side of the house and adjoins the decking througha tangle of relaxed planting.<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 Rachel Warne<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Ann-Marie, her partner Jules, and their two sons, came in search of a bigger garden. She fell in love with the house because of the trees on the road, \u201camazing Scots pines<\/a>\u201d, and an abundant azalea by the front door. Here she has transformed a self-seeding<\/a> dumping ground \u2013 her words \u2013 into an idyllic miniature woodland hideout. A low row of box balls,<\/a> fugitives from a Chelsea show garden<\/a>, planted about with Thalictrum<\/a> aquilegifolium<\/em>, Deschampsia<\/em>, and ribbons of Galium<\/em> line the front of the house, while a narrow path winds back towards the leafy street, through a small area stuffed with bulbs \u2013 Nectaroscordum<\/em>, Crinum<\/em> x powellii<\/em>, Camassia leichtlinii<\/em> and Eremurus<\/em> \u2013 all spiking through a lovely Cornus<\/a> kousa<\/em>, a fine Eriobotrya<\/em> and a massive rhododendron<\/a>. Bulbs<\/a> are brilliant for a small space<\/a>, she says, where up is the only way to go. Ann-Marie loves it here, this borrowed landscape with borrowed plants.<\/p>\n

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Ann-Marie\u2019s exuberant mix of grasses and perennials includes Stipa gigantea<\/em>, Sanguisorba<\/em> \u2018Pink Tanna\u2019 and Verbena bonariensis<\/em>, with Geranium<\/em> Patricia (= \u2018Brempat\u2019) and Teucrium hircanicum<\/em> \u2018Paradise Delight\u2019, all bursting out over silvery oak decking.<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 Rachel Warne<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

The back garden presented a bigger challenge. \u201cNormal, sensible people do the kitchen or the electrics. We did the garden first.\u201d With a brace of stalwart friends to help, Ann-Marie and Jules squared up to a mass of concrete rubble, a sharply sloping lawn, a gigantic leylandii hedge<\/a> and a ropey retaining wall. They punched holes in the concrete before cladding it with oak board decking laid on massive sleepers, ripped out the leylandii, levelled the lawn, dug beds.<\/p>\n

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The English oak table, home-made by Ann-Marie, complements the decking beautifully.<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 Rachel Warne<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

The garden has now settled into its skin. The oak decking, slightly gnarled and battered, has softened to a pearly grey. On either side of steps leading down to the lawn, sunken beds, instead of the usual balustrading, act as buffers to the rest of the garden, where the tidy-minded Jules insisted on a nice rectangular lawn. Six Sorbus aria<\/em> rise out of the narrow side beds and enormous plants wrestle for space. \u201cToo many trees for this garden, really, but I love feeling enclosed.\u201d<\/p>\n

KEY ELEMENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

What<\/strong> Small, multi-tasking garden.<\/p>\n

Where<\/strong> Hampshire.<\/p>\n

Special features<\/strong> Oversized planting scheme viewed from a generous oak-boarded platform.<\/p>\n

Size<\/strong> 200 square metres (25m x 8m).<\/p>\n

Soil<\/strong> Sandy and acidic, but much worked.<\/p>\n

Aspect<\/strong> East-facing.<\/p>\n

Hardiness zone<\/strong> USDA 9.<\/p>\n

Designed by<\/strong> Ann-Marie Powell ann-mariepowell.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p><\/div> <\/section>

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Looking up from The Sink past a wigwam of sweet peas to claret sunflowers and yellow Coreopsis verticillata<\/em> \u2018Grandiflora\u2019.<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 Rachel Warne<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve gone against the grain using huge plants in such a small garden,\u201d says Ann-Marie. Rodgersia<\/em>, Deschampsia flexuosa<\/em> and loads of Veronicastrum<\/em><\/a> get really big, but make the most of vertical space<\/a>. Across the bottom of the lawn runs a small, rectangular bed, crammed with Stipa gigantea<\/em>. \u201cAce plant. I love it. Far too big. There were five; Jules made me remove two, but I replaced them with three Calamagrostis brachytricha<\/em> when he wasn\u2019t looking.\u201d Here vegetables and perennials, Calendula<\/em>, Eschscholzia<\/em>, sweet peas, beans, sorrel, and Verbena bonariensis<\/em>, jostling riotously, screen what she calls The Sink, \u201cwhere we chuck the children\u201d, which miraculously accommodates a hammock<\/a>, a trampoline, an assault course and two large space hoppers, which can\u2019t be entirely beneficial for the borders. \u201cI don\u2019t go for boringly indestructible childproof plants<\/a>,\u201d says Ann-Marie, \u201cbut football is not allowed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Echinacea purpurea<\/em> among a haze of Anemanthele lessoniana<\/em>.<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 Rachel Warne<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

This garden looks wonderful in late summer: the grasses, with Knautia<\/em>, Echinacea<\/em> and lashings of Verbena<\/em>, tower head-high. Ann-Marie loves Lychnis<\/em>, Hemerocallis<\/em> \u2018Summer Wine\u2019 and her red sunflowers, which look you in the eye when you\u2019re sitting on the deck. \u201cI\u2019m a bit of a Miss Havisham, really,\u201d she admits. \u201cI like things slowly degenerating, rotting, floating off into the stratus.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cosmos atrosanguineus<\/em> and Verbena bonariensis<\/em> mingle with Stipa gigantea<\/em>.<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 Rachel Warne<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

The garden is where Ann-Marie feels most at home. \u201cI love being outside. I eat breakfast here just to get that first injection of light and shade.\u201d She hankers after more space \u2013 a glass house, a vegetable garden. But this is what she can realistically manage for the moment, and as she says, creating a small garden on a tiny budget comes with its own disciplines and challenges. And as long as she\u2019s gardening, she\u2019s happy.<\/p>\n

How to make the most of a limited space<\/h2>\n

\u2022 Don\u2019t be afraid to use big plants in a confined area. Make the best possible use of vertical space, and not just with climbers. Go for grasses such as Deschampsia<\/em> or Stipa<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 For engaging (not entirely gardening-enthusiastic) children, use plants that are fun to grow and encourage wildlife \u2013 sunflowers work perfectly on both counts. Benches on Ann-Marie\u2019s deck are groaning with pots<\/a> and baskets filled with tomatoes<\/a>, basil, salads and strawberries, which her boys like to pick and eat. Down in the borders there are peas, beans and raspberry canes. The boys enjoy helping Ann-Marie hack back the grasses<\/a> in spring.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Plan different places for different moods. In Ann-Marie\u2019s garden the woodland area at the front of the house is for peace and solitude, the decking area is for entertaining and The Sink is a brilliant, enclosed play area for the children. Just no plastic swings, says Ann-Marie.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Pay attention to plant combinations. Mix grasses with tall perennials<\/a> for year-round interest: Ann-Marie\u2019s favourite plant combinations include Eupatorium maculatum<\/em> (Atropurpureum Group) \u2018Orchard Dene\u2019 with Miscanthus<\/em> and Veronicastrum<\/em> with pretty much everything.<\/p>\n

Discover more modern small garden inspiration\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Useful information<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ann-Marie Powell Gardens, Lower Cowgrove, Heath Farm, Heath Road East Petersfield, Hampshire GU31 4HT. Tel 01730 825650, ann-mariepowell.com<\/a><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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