Category Archives: garden design

SPOTTED – more low tech green walls

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We like green façades on buildings – especially when they are slightly different from the normal, high tech green wall systems. We have looked at a few low tech green façade systems here on the Ecospot, many of which feature naturally planted foliage based climbers and some kind of mesh cladding. These kind of green walls utilise the fact that climbers actually want to climb – provide them with the structure to scramble up and they will do the rest.

The latest building we have spotted to use this low tech green wall system is The Nest by a21 studio in Vietnam – a very simple steel framed building which has lots of opportunity to be colonised by green walls and plants.

There are a series of mesh panels integrated into the building, as well as a series of internal planters which help to continue the green wall theme into the structure. There is a beautiful transparency to the building which is softened by the planting, which will eventually grow to cover the façade completely.

Another simple way of producing a green wall on a building – which could also be utilised as a productive space – kiwis are very prolific climbers and would be perfect to cover a façade very quickly in the warm months…

(images via Inhabitat)

flowers and graffiti from Amsterdam

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We are particularly drawn to anything with high contrast – the rough with the smooth, the loud with the quiet, the dark with the light. Contrasting elements can provide real interest to a space, display or even just to differentiate between surfaces.

So, whilst wandering around Amsterdam last weekend, there was one particular photo which showed interesting contrast in a way which we had not seen so much - flowers and graffiti.

flowers and graffiti

We found a lovely flower shop – very typically Dutch and beautifully presented. But the flowers flowed around the corner into an adjoining alley, where masses of bright yellow pansies and violas were displayed for sale.

Sitting against a dark black, graffiti covered wall, it was this piece of contrast that really caught our eye. Flowers and graffiti do not sit obviously next to one another, but these shared splashes of gold and black, so complimented each other whilst still having a great contrast.

So when you think about putting together a display, or redecorating a part of your house and garden, think about contrast – how can the unusual be combined to create something which shocks in the right way?

(image by claire potter design)

REVISIT – sweet violets – the most beautiful edible flower for Spring?

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Despite the snow, there are a few plants which are beginning to come to life and remind us that spring is surely on its way.

One such plant is the stunning Sweet Violet, which we wrote about last year and is just starting to get going…

March 2012…

A few weeks ago we posted about the earliest edible flowers available to pretty up your plates and this weekend we spotted our favourites – sweet violets, or to give them their proper name, Viola odorata.

There is a large bank near our studio which sits right on the edge of a road, by a bus stop, which is completely smothered by a blanket of sweet violets which fills the air with the most amazing scent each March.

Given their demure size, the scent they produce is actually quite incredible, with a little bunch happily scenting a whole room.

The blooms are also wonderful added to spring salads to give a bit of colour, but our favourite way to use them is to place a single bloom on a chocolate violet flavoured cupcake – the dark brown icing really making the blue purple of the violet sing out. Or, as pictured to the left here, they can be crystallised and added as decorations (these cakes were vanilla with violet extract flavoured icing)

Sweet violets are a great addition to a garden and as they are happy in both full sun or semi shade there will almost certainly be a place that they would love.

Plus, as well as the standard violet coloured sweet violet, you can get white varieties too, which, if colour is not your thing, would be a brilliant alternative.

Get them here or here.

(top image from crocus)

SPOTTED – a great, low tech green walling system

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As some of you are probably aware, we are pretty obsessed with the greening of our cities – be it with ornamental green wall cladding, or preferably with edible landscaping. A few posts of late have been dedicated to the art of green walling, from the highly efficient living wall systems of Biotecture to the very low tech DIY green walling systems using traditional climbers to clad a building.

And there are clear merits to each of the systems, from versatility, water recycling to just utilising natures own plants which want to scramble and climb.  They also come with very different price tags.

One DIY system we really like takes the green wall plants right off the face of the structure itself so potential damage from the plants climbing to the façade of the building is minimised.

green wall 2

So whilst wandering around Ecobuild last week we were delighted to see such a system installed as a demonstration stand around one of the lecture pavilions.

It uses stainless steel fixings which space a tensioned mesh away from the face of the building, creating a secondary skin across which a climber, in this case English Ivy can climb.  What is great is that these types of fixings are readily available, reasonably priced and can be customised to the space you need to clad.

green wall 1

It creates a very nice and clean detail – and some great shadows on the façade of the building, which in this case was large format tiles.

And this is the beauty of shows such as Ecobuild – finding ideas and inspiration for your own projects, so why not take this idea and apply it to your own buildings in need of a bit of green walling?

(images by claire potter)

more climber based green wall cladding…

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A few posts ago we looked at how you can create a green wall type installation using a basic framework, built around your existing building and allowing climbing plants to be grown up the structure.

As we discussed, this sort of installation ensures that damage to the building structure is minimised as the plants are grown off the façade.

It also creates a very interesting secondary skin to the building, which could be allowed to envelop large sections of the structure, or changed periodically to give differences in texture – or even edible crops such as squashes.

It does seem as though this type of ‘green cladding’ is becoming very popular, as we spotted another example at the end of last week, using this very framework based system.

Formerly an existing garage in the Italian Alps, architects Act_Romegialli were bought on board to convert the structure into a welcoming studio for their clients.

green design, eco design, sustainable design, Green Box, Act_romegialli, green roof, Italian Alps, vine covered garage, living walls

The resulting structure, called ‘Green Box’ is encased in a lightweight steel frame upon which climbing plants have been encouraged to grow – shielding the building and developing it into a piece of the landscape itself.

Privacy to the retreat section of the building is given by the growing vines and climbers themselves which filter light passing into the structure.

green design, eco design, sustainable design, Green Box, Act_romegialli, green roof, Italian Alps, vine covered garage, living walls

The interior of the building follows this simple theme, with reclaimed timber boards, stone and steel being used to create a very industrial yet rustic aesthetic.

What is beautiful about this particular project is the simplicity with which it was envisaged - using the natural growth of the plants to create the covering skin – an idea which could easily be employed with any small scale structure.

Garages, sheds, outbuildings – why not think about creating your own green wall cladding this Spring.

(images via Inhabitat)

Cladding with a green wall

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On Friday we looked at how living green wall systems can be used to bring a bit of the Pantone colour of 2013, Emerald Green into an interior space, even though the green wall is most often seen outside.

Of course, as well as bringing a bit of colour into any space, green walls have many air purifying qualities and can even be used to grow edible crops, making then a great space saving choice for residential and business premises. But, as we detailed on Friday, the green wall system is a technical beast.

There are however ways to create a living green wall effect outside with relative ease, as this project, the Art Barn in Greenwich, USA by Robert Young Architecture demonstrates beautifully.

Instead of the traditional panel green wall system that we have come to know, this project takes the effect right back to it’s literal roots – with climbing plants.

The structure is covered with an open mesh type cladding panel which allows the plants, in this case white wisteria, to cling on and scramble up the building. The wisteria acts as a natural rain screen and provides insulative shading in summer, whilst still being a separate ‘skin’ from the building beneath.

This separation provides the feeling of a shield, but also ensures that the vigorous nature of the climbing plants do not do any adverse damage to the structure of the building as they grow. There does seem to be two schools of thought when it comes to climbing plants – good living screens or potential structural nightmares, but if treated with care and attention, with this type of separation, you can have the best of both worlds and is usually the path we adopt with clients with similar projects.

This type of green wall ‘cladding’ is a great way to cover an unsightly building, garage, or to provide a skin for a larger building, just like the example above. Install an open mesh system first, slightly separated from the structure, then choose your climbers. Think of it as a modern, freestanding trellis project and you are pretty much there.

Of course, this type of green wall does take a lot longer to create the end result, but climbing plants which are relatively vigorous can be chosen to cover your chosen structure. You could even mix up your planting with edible climbers too, making the green wall productive as well as aesthetically pleasing.

So, why not think about your own green wall this year? make use of a structure and get growing.

(image via Inhabitat)

REVISIT – snow shows your garden structure

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So, some of us have had some snow, with a bit more on the way for a lot of us. But instead of cursing the white stuff, get outside and start to replan your landscape. Trust us – this works – as we highlighted last year…

Feb 2012.

We have all been shivering a bit in the cold over the past week, with the ravages of ice and snow blasting their way across the UK.

For some things in the garden, this is a really bad thing, with the early risers being caught out by the cold. Other things such as garlic will be really pleased about the drop in temperature. Most other things will not be that bothered. Life is of course a matter of balance.

But there is a very important function that snow (or even a hard frost) can bring to the garden in winter.

Structure.

If your garden does not have structure then it is really evident in the winter, when landscapes are blanketed in one singular colour. If there are not great bones in your garden you will be able to see the flatness easier now than ever before.

Do you have a good balance of evergreen shrubs, skeletal trees and shrubs with good form, arches, urns, statues, buildings or hard landscaping?

Take a step back. Take some photos. Pick out the ‘flat’ areas with a view to moving stuff in early spring, or positioning a new feature.

Now, some flatness can be great. Think of a beautiful, crisp section of lawn or a meadow. But the flat has to be balanced with the bones.

Get your structural bones right and your garden will literally stand up to all weathers and look beautiful come rain or shine, or even frost or snow.

 

(images by claire potter design)

Ash dieback disease in the UK

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We usually try and find something nice and exciting to write about – great design, fantastic interiors and landscapes, seasonality and craftspeople, but every so often we find ourselves writing about a pressing issue which is not as nice, like Ash dieback disease.

This disease appears to only affect the Ash tree and is caused by an infectious fungus, Hymenoscyphus Pseudoalbidus, which attacks the trees causing leaves to drop and the crowns to literally ‘die back’.

It is thought that the fungus has arrived in the UK through the imports of infected trees, probably from Denmark, where it was observed in nurseries as early as 2009. Since last week there has been a Government ban on the sale, importation and general movement of Ash trees in the UK, but there are around 52 sites where infection has been confirmed (correct at time of writing, but expected to rise).

So what does this mean for the Ash tree in the UK?

On an optimistic note, the spores which spread the fungus are more prevalent in the summer months and it is thought that the increase of sites is due to the fungus being recognised rather than the disease spreading. But, the infected trees have to be destroyed to prevent any future spread, so we face the destruction of many trees – both young and established.

There is also the possibility that the spores have blown into the UK, so even with the destruction of the current infected trees, the spread of ash dieback may be incredibly difficult, maybe impossible to halt completely. Some areas of Denmark have seen 90% of their ash trees destroyed by the virus, which is a very sobering statistic when we recognise that we have in the region of 130,000 hectares of predominantly ash tree woodland in the UK.

But as well as the potential loss of the trees, there are the species which directly rely on the ash tree and the ash woodlands as their habitat. Due to the dappled light the leaves provide, woodland flowers flourish in ash habitats and the loss due to ash dieback could have dire consequences for these locations and supported species.

So, what are the symptoms of ash dieback and what should we do?

The symptoms of ash dieback disease are varied, and range from lesions to blackened stems and the browning of leaves from the ends of stems. This pictoral guide from the Forestry Commission is an excellent identification tool. http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/en/visit-woods/for-nature/Documents/symptoms-chalara-dieback-ash.pdf

If you do find a tree which could be infected, contact one of the bodies listed on the Woodland Trust website. Alternatively, contact your local authority who should be able to log the location and advise you accordingly.

We can also help to reduce the spread of the ash dieback fungus by washing boots, pets and even children when returning from an autumnal stroll in the woods.

Take a look at this video from the Telegraph and ensure that you check your local trees.

(images via the Woodland Trust and BBC)

A Pantone inspired spring planting scheme

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Day two of our week looking at how the Pantone Spring Colour Report can be translated from fashion into interiors and landscapes and we are looking at a planting scheme combination for Spring using a few of the key colours.

The colour report itself has a few colours which would merge beautifully in a planting scheme, but we are going to put one combination together which would look stunning en masse in one large bed with a very modern aesthetic.

 

All of our planting schemes incorporate some edible elements, so to link with the colour report we would choose a mass of the lovely, fluffy, limey green fennel. The young foliage is a truly beautiful colour and would be a great match with the ‘Tender Shoots’ Pantone colour in the scheme.

 

Due to the fluffy nature of fennel, it is a great plant to be mixed with other forms, contrasting textures and colours and the leaves will disguise any growth dying off from other plants within the bed.

With this in mind, we would interplant the fennel with an early flowering tulip in the Poppy Red Pantone colour tone, such as these Ile de France tulips from Bloms.

The height of the tulips will stand up well to the surrounding fluffy fennel and the growing fennel will help to disguise the foliage of the tulip as it dies back, which is always an untidy part of the May garden.

This thinking can be applied to other bulbs too, like alliums, which can also have tatty leaves.

A lovely colour combination and a great mix of textures which would make a planting scheme for a bed with impact.

(images via Bloms and Lavender World)

Pantone colour report Spring 2013

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Interior design and to a degree, landscape design is hugely influenced by the fashion world which as we all know moves at the rate of knots. So, what will be the colours for Spring 2013? The Pantone Colour Report sheds a little light on what may be the next key colours, so for this week we will specifically looking at these shades and how they may be interpreted for the coming year.

But first, the overview of the Spring collection.

Reportedly, the Monaco Blue is set to be the top colour, which will be interesting to see. Not a particularly vibrant shade compared to last years Bright orange, but change is good. Muted can be used to great effect and any dark shade will make any colour placed in front of it sing.

We also really like the Greyed Jade (Pantone 14-6011), and the Poppy Red (Pantone 17-1664) – combined with the Dusk Blue (Pantone 16-4120) you have a very mid twentieth century styled colour palette.

The limey Tender Shoots (Pantone 14-0446) would be a perfect foil for our favourite dark greys – inside or outside. Maybe a stack of lime green hostas in front of a grey rendered wall? Or a reupholstered sofa in front of a dark grey wall?

So, why the choices? The Pantone Colour Institute’s Leatrice Eiseman explains…

Ok. We have the colours, now how will this relate to interior and landscape spaces over the next few months? We start to look at options for the colours above tomorrow.

(images via DesignTaxi and Pantone)