I find laying out my own modest plot difficult so the thought of tackling a very large space seems impossible. For garden designer Paul Bangay though it’s the opposite as I’ve been finding out in his latest book, Big Garden Design.
The celebrated Australian designer loves the scale and scope that a large project offers with the chance to develop different styles within the same garden, and the possibility of planting in hundreds rather than handfuls.
“I just love the magnitude of planting potential – garden beds can swallow plants by the hundreds and often thousands, and trees, rather than standing alone, can be planted to form woods.”
Large gardens, invariably in the country, he explains, are kinder to the designer in that mistakes are often lost in the scale and not as glaring as they would be in a smaller space. They also lend themselves more easily to the design goal of encouraging exploration.
“With more space to wander, the element of intrigue can entice someone to seek out hidden sections of the garden.”
Big Garden Design takes his blueprint for a successful garden – allowing exploration, respecting the scale of the space, creating somewhere to relax and entertain – and looks at 18 of his designs across Australia, New Zealand and France to illustrate how this translates on the ground.
We discover the Winery Garden for the Barossa Estate where the brief was to create a garden with many places for visitors to sit and enjoy the winery’s produce. There’s the Chateau Garden where filling an otherwise blank space with flowers – both to cut and admire – and produce was the request along with keeping the existing swimming pool. Despite his misgivings, Paul worked the pool into the design, softening it with planting, including cushions of yew and plum-themed borders. It is now the most used area – “The designer is not always right!”
As his career has developed, so the appeal of veg gardens has increased: “Productive gardens are sustainable and, if cared for organically, are our way of caring for the planet.”
The Productive Garden gave him the opportunity to create this on a vast scale with a design of decorative raised beds around a central quince tree.
One of the largest projects, The Coastal Garden, saw him planting a forest to envelop the garden and wrapping huge cushions of rosemary around a sunken firepit.
It’s a style that needs to be seen to be fully appreciated and that’s where the book triumphs. While each chapter does have an written explanation of the brief and design process, along with plant lists, the majority is given over to stiking photos – many double-page spreads. Often these are aeriel shots, which show clearly the use of texture and shape that underpins his style.
Indeed, often less is more with block plantings of single things – lavender or box – frequently used. And that’s the beauty of designing on a large scale, you don’t need to be mean with a good idea.
Big Garden Design by Paul Bangay with photography by Simon Griffiths is published by Thames & Hudson Ltd with an RRP of £45. #Ad You can buy it here for £31.91. (If you buy via this link, I receive a small commission. The price you pay is not affected.) Alternatively, you may wish to buy from an independent bookseller here. All prices correct at time of publication of this post.
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If you come on my Design your own Garden one-year course in Slimbridge, Glos starting again in September, you will solve the problem of designing your garden while you increase your skills by designing your fellow students’ too. You would be very welcome!
Sounds great but I think I’d need another day a week to fit it in! 😍