Exotic Woodland In The City

Left - you can just about make out Martin Gibbons - owner of the Palm Centre in London, see their link on our Resources Page - standing on the deck with a 6 strong camera crew hidden under the forest canopy.
Right - This is the deck where he is standing. The culms of the Black Bamboo Phyllostachys nigra (on the left) shield it from the overlooking windows, and the evergreen fern in the background, Blechnum chilense is on an island on the far side of the pond.

This series shows how a 'micro woodland' with its own climate and private space was achieved in just a few years. The time elapsed between the first and third photos is only 4 years. The last photo was shot about 10 years after we started during the filming of BBC Ultimate Gardens. The garden is only 5.5m wide by 24m long 18x80', with identical strips of garden on each side which are totally neglected.

The ground floor of the house is above the garden level and was accessed by a flight of steps. We built this deck so that there would be useable space up at the same level as the house; so it is possible to walk out of the house directly onto a level area, which became the venue for many dinner parties. The heavy timber posts used to support the deck at this high level were continued up past the platform level to support the hand and foot rails and then above them, oriental style cross beams making a group of three arches. 

Top left - the negelected and overgrown garden as we found it.
Top right - 1993 after clearing the weeds and digging the pond. We used some of the spoil from the pond excavation to make a small hill which gave an extra dynamic to the planting.
Below left - after heavy landscaping in 1993. In this photo you can see that the shaggy brown fibres have been stripped from the trunks of the Trachycarpus fortunei palms at the back of the garden, revealing the ringed trunk beneath which is creamy white at first.
Below right - spring 1995 after addititonal planting. Here the palm trunks have darkened down to a rich reddish brown colour. 

A Himalayan bamboo Thamnocalamus crassinodus 'Kew Beauty' hangs over this simple waterfall, its sound just enough to block out the background noise of London.

Left - the back of the garden around the pond developed a protected deep woodland micro climate which perfectly suited this fern from Chile and a Rhododendron.
Right - the other end of the garden had long periods of full sun which allowed these Yucca aloifolia to thrive.

Left - the heaxagonal deck overhangs the pond slightly on three sides bringing you into close contact with the water which stretches right across the back of the garden, right up to the left hand wall and leaving just a narrow bank on the right hand side where you can see a young bamboo plant hanging over the pond.
Right - about 10 years later looking through the woodland canopy we can see the owner of the garden standing on the same deck. The arching bamboo just over his right shoulder is the same as the young plant in the left hand photo, a beautiful Himalayan species mentioned 2 photos above. The palm leaves just beyond that belong to the same pair of Trachycarpus fortunei as the ones in the background of the left photo.