North Facing Garden Introduction

Banbury Gardeners complete a north-facing garden makeover in Banbury, Oxfordshire. This North facing garden located close to the heart of the town has recently undergone a complete garden makeover. North facing gardens are often troublesome projects to undertake more due to limited light with overhanging trees and cold draughts. Well, we believe we have executed a small garden miracle transformation and are pleased to unveil the finished garden below.

Garden Before Works

New Garden benefits and Features

Once the old garden was cleared and the existing plants tagged to be re-used in the new garden the team could then begin the garden execution. There were some pretty large plants in the original garden that can become rather large and overgrown and taking up valuable space and light from the existing underplanting. Plants, in particular, were the Pyracantha, Viburnum, Cornus Elegantissima, Cotoneasters and Large clumps of Acanthus. The brief for the new garden was to keep a selection of the existing planting and relocate, create more of an adult area in the garden but still maintain areas of play for the children. New features included:

• Wooden raised beds to make gardening and maintenance more enjoyable
• New Patio area and dedicated place for seating and eating outside as a family
• New Garden shed and
• Installation of Garden Lighting so it can be enjoyed after dark
• New Lawn with Low maintenance edging
• Screening areas of the garden from the house for relaxation and privacy
• Make the garden more user-friendly
• Relaxed planting scheme with emphasis on greenery
• Space for growing small fruits and vegetables for companion planting

Completed North Facing Garden makeover 

Completed North Facing Garden Notes & Materials used

Natural Stone Paving: Smooth Mint Fossil Sandstone, modern, contemporary-looking paving with warm yellow tones and whites and has a beautiful distinctive veining within it, An excellent candidate for making the new garden feel bigger and brighter.

Softwood sleepers and Deck boards: used to create the raised beds around the garden to make garden maintenance easier and more enjoyable. Internally the beds are treated with a bitumen based paint to prolong the life of the sleepers and moisture degradation. The seat at the end of the garden is built-in into the beds in order to zone the garden. Profiled deck boards emphasize a place to sit. 

Garden Lighting: added to the existing Silver birch and Purple Leaved Almond trees. Recess brick lights in the sleeper walls with hoods to light the paved pathways at night.  Downlighters fixed in crossbeams of the single pergolas to light the planting. Bringing the garden to life in the evening hours and make the space more enjoyable and creating shadows.

Climbing Frame: This was re-purposed, painted black with Cuprinol Garden Shades Black Ash. The underframe could be used as a log store or made into another den for the children.  Once the children are older the climbing frame can be removed and a further raised bed can be created for the growth of small home produce crops. 

Lawn: laid using ryegrass turf as its broadleaved and hard-wearing for ball based play, This will also be maintained and treated by Banbury Lawncare every 11 weeks for a bespoke program of feed and weed treatments

Lawn Edging: keeping the lawn edges is always a chore but now the new lawn features a mowing strip meaning the time for edging with shears is now a thing of the past and the owner can simply mower right to the edge of the paving, meaning less time gardening and more relaxation.

Single Pergolas: The garden already has a borrowed landscape with the existing birch tree bordering the garden presently with (TPO’s – Tree Preservation Orders upon them) but to give the garden further height we have made use of installing some single pergola frames between the raised beds to give the garden additional height. These will be used for climbing plants and also to house some of the garden downlighters to create an atmospheric mood after dark and lighting the planting. Furthermore, the single pergolas will also provide valuable locations for bird feeders around the garden.

Trellis Screening: we have used trellis screening in 3 parts of the garden and within close proximity to each other. The primary goal to make the end part of the garden more private from neighboring windows overlooking into the garden. The end part of the garden is a part utility (screening of the shed) and also to screen the shed and seating/ dining area. These will be clothed in climbing plants, in particular, the client’s love of climbing roses. Yes, we can get roses growing in North facing garden makeover…

Garden Planting: the new garden planting emphasizes a low maintenance feel. Primarily many greens in the foliages and the use of variegated foliage to provide light and interest. Fortunately, the owner had a lovely collection of existing plants already in the garden which had been saved and replanted to give the feeling of garden maturity. The use of some topiary style plants gives the planting further height and the berrying plant forms mean that the local bird population has now gained more food sources. Insect interest will be maintained with a lot of the previous perennial plants being kept and with heavier en masse style planting the beds will look and feel fuller year-round.

We would love to hear from you

If you are interested in our landscape and garden design services or any of our bespoke garden services featured then we would be delighted to help. Do call us on 01295 3689217 / 07854 922597 or email us at info@banburygardeners.co.uk or better still Contact us