Hilltop Gardening Club

Our talk with slide show this evening was entitled “An Eye for Design: garden design for home gardeners”, given by Helen Westerndorp of Essence Garden Design.

Helen has been designing gardens for over ten years and presented us with a six-point formula around which to base design.

Each point was evocatively photographed to illustrate the method used to link the design with the space available, the colours of the house in which the garden lay and how to make the best use of borrowed landscape to enhance the whole area.

We saw how famous landscape designers use methods of bringing large existing structures and plantings into the designs to fit the scale of the gardens below but not diminishing the existing grand surroundings, enabling the visitor to see how the use of such formula can be suited to smaller gardens.

We were shown how repetition of form creates harmony and this can be enhanced by repeating colour within the garden.

In addition, the clever ways of leading the eye to encourage the footsteps of enquiring visitors along paths which enable glimpses of even more exciting plantings around corners and through gates or arches.

The use of a focal point at the end of vistas was cleverly demonstrated by removing the item and enabling us to see just how important it became to the view.

Helen’s clever use of all the six points was demonstrated with before and after photographs of her own recently re-designed garden where paths were widened to bring better scale to the front of the house, the patio area enlarged and the stream diverted to curve provocatively through the whole scene.

Helen’s garden will be open for the National Gardens Scheme in early May 2015 so this will be an excellent opportunity to appreciate her talent for exciting garden design.

Helen then invited questions from the floor: some searching and and an enthusiastic round of applause from the gardeners present.

For further information on the Club and activities, please contact Margaret Headen on 01453 884869.