Joe Swift’s Garden

Although I wasn’t initially too keen on the way the cedarwood had been used (reminiscent of chopping boards) the arches did grow on me – partly because their colours were echoed in the planting and also because, if used in a real garden, they would mellow with age. That little quibble aside, it was a wonderfully well-designed garden with some inspired planting. The spiky white-flowered stood out so well between the water and the background planting and I loved the way the tones of the birch tree trunks echoed the shades of the cedarwood. The coppery-bronze verbascum and iris also added to the colour cohesion of the garden which was tonally very pleasing and a refreshing change from the colour palette of many of the other gardens.