Floreat Park

The house had just been extensively renovated, leaving bare ground below a new raised patio at the back and beneath mature trees at the front. The owners wanted two beds planned for late-spring impact: a low-maintenance rockery of alpines, bulbs and Mediterranean plants to enjoy from the kitchen, bay window and patio, and a front border that would suit the shade and the high standard of the property for everyone passing by.

The rockery needed Corten steel edging onto the lawn, granite rocks set through the bed and room left around the children’s swing hanging from the crape myrtle. The front border sits between granite and rendered walls under a large oak, in dry shade, and had to frame a granite block bearing the property’s name.

Working alongside Chris Jesson, I produced the planting plans, visualisations and costings for both beds.

At the back, a smaller, more economical rockery of 15 m² makes the most of seven hours of west-facing sun and the warmth of the patio wall. Rounded Cistus give evergreen structure without competing with the crape myrtle, and a prostrate blue cedar sits as a sculptural focal point among the granite boulders, echoed by Blue Star junipers. Lavender, Russian sage and Stipa add fragrance and movement, aubrieta, candytuft and creeping thyme soften chosen rock edges, and Lady Jane tulips and alliums rise through in late spring. Generous areas of gravel and granite are left visible, so the landform and plant shapes can be appreciated.

At the front, rather than fighting the dry shade of the oak, the planting becomes a naturalistic woodland edge of soft greens, silver foliage and white flowers. Sarcococca and Choisya form an evergreen framework; drifts of Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’, soft shield fern and wood-rush add texture; and epimediums, heucheras and Lamium thread along the front, with campanula softening the rendered wall. Snowdrops, cyclamen, wood anemones and Narcissus ‘Sailboat’ carry the display from late winter, and the drifts frame the granite name block as an intentional feature.

Each bed was presented as a full planting plan, with layered plant lists, seasonal visualisations and a detailed cost estimate.

The plans have been approved, and work is now in progress.