I have been mulling over a design problem for a while now. We have been designing an estate garden in the south. The client has a brick colonial home and we are incorporating a formal potager with shrub and perennial borders. We are locating the greenhouse and designing the walls, fences, gates, storage buildings and compost bins. It is a tricky site and one of the issues has been how to screen the property while maintaining the formality, attention to detail and aesthetic we have created on the rest of the site.
In an odd triangle of left over space we have created a green triangle room. These are the conceptual drawings from my sketchbook of this vision. The green room will truly be a secret garden with two entrances. The tall wood gates will need to be wide enough for a wheelbarrow to pass through yet solid like a door to screen views. Inside the green room will be the double compost bin. The green room is adjacent to the kitchen garden and will be a work room to support the edible garden.
I have decided on two types of evergreens for two different areas. The green triangle room needs a plant that that can be sheared into a dense, formal evergreen hedge maintained at a height of eight to ten feet. Prunus caroliniana 'Monus' or Bright 'n tight Carolina cherry laurel is a cultivar that is narrower than the species and will be ideal. It's also native to the southeast and has small black cherries to attract birds. This green hedge will join another hedge planted along the property line for privacy. I have decided on a very reliable holly, Ilex x 'Nellie R. Stevens'. Nellie R. Stevens holly will provide the height needed for this part of the wall. It eventually will grow twenty feet high to block out the views into the neighbors property. This hedge will also be sheered to create a formal green background. This part of the wall is meant to be a backdrop for the dogwoods, flowering shrubs and perennials that will be planted in front of it.
