Efferknock Manor

Context:
Suburban apartment complex communal garden, full sun/part shade, private developer.

Brief:
“We need to accomodate residential parking, patio spaces, a children’s play zone, and an entrance feature. The planting should be easy to maintain, and provide some privacy from the adjoining access road”.

Concept:
“Considered, informal design of garden spaces, and associated decorative planting, to satisfy essential practical and functional requirements of apartment residents. Encompasses the provision of a secure, social, and shared outdoor environment that enhances the overall recreational, and aesthetic qualities of the development”.

Key elements:
Unique block paving and patio designs; practical planting design using semi-mature trees, structural evergreen shrubs, seasonal perennials and bulbs; defined lawns, sculptural water feature, ambient and utilitarian lighting.

Key plants:
Character specimen
Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Frisia’ – False acacia ‘Frisia’
Fruit/wildlife
Pyracantha rogersiana ‘Flava’ – Yellow Asian firethorn
Architectural/specimen/accent
Acanthus mollis – Bear’s breech
Evergreen/flower/scent
Choisya ternata – Mexican orange blossom
Sarcococca hookeriana var. digyna – Sweet box
Viburnum davidii – David viburnum
Foliage/flower/groundcover
Bergenia ‘Silberlicht’ – Elephant’s ears ‘Silberlicht’
Geranium ‘Jolly Bee’ – Geranium ‘Jolly Bee’
Texture/movement/seed head
Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ – Feather reed grass