Higher Ground - The idea behind my designing a Meditation Garden

  A little while back, I was recommended by an acquaintance to pay a visit to a double-fronted Terrace house in the west London suburb of Acton to discuss the idea of designing the Household’s back garden. The Household consists of five Nuns-in-Residence who belong to the Society of Medical Mission Sisters whose role is community advocacy and health services activism. Their house is, in fact, two terraces with the façade of two front doors. It is a large brown brick house with sections of the dividing wall removed to allow for more space and thus making it one house. The clients’ home interior is very warm and welcoming, reflective of the line of work they do within their community. And given that all five Nuns are from different parts of the world, their décor expresses an international community ideal. Lots of traditional ornaments and soft furnishings were on display from Kenya, Colombia, Indonesia, India, and the United States. Regardless of the diverse collection of the clients’ ornaments and furnishings, their house felt very comfortable and inclusive. To put it simply it was a really nice place to visit.

  The clients’ colour scheme consists of many autumnal colours such as russet red, orange and green, especially in the kitchen and Chapel. Their sitting room toward the back of the house consisted of white painted walls, brown throw cushions, large tan cloth covered sofas, and a multi-coloured South American inspired floor rug, with wall hangings of various saints and religious icons in the style of their native homelands. They also own a heavy wooden bookshelf consisting of many books on centrist political dignitaries and contemplative spirituality. After a brief tour of their house both the designer and all five clients sat down at the large wooden kitchen table over tea to discuss their interests and hobbies and the current state of their garden, and what they would like to see done to make it more reflective of the household’s decor and those living in the house. Before discussing ideas I asked if I could go outside and walk around the garden and observe as much as he could to get an idea at what state the garden is in and what can be achieved through careful planning and design.

  The clients back garden is actually two garden sites belonging to one household. The wall that runs parallel on the left is wooden paneled and stands approximately three-and-half feet tall. The neighbour on that side of the property has erected a natural bamboo reed fence that stands at six-feet (inside their yard for privacy). At the foot of this side of the fence is a small green compost bin the clients would like to keep. As mentioned earlier the clients’ house is two terraced houses (with two front doors). As a result, their garden is wider than usual. It is obvious that there are two separate gardens at play here with paths and garden beds that seem to go nowhere in particular.

  The clients advised that although there are five people who reside at this address, the reality is only one person actually uses the garden. That is not to say the other residents would not enjoy the garden after refurbishment rather it doesn’t currently inspire them to want to go outside. That said, they all agreed on wanting the garden to be ‘low maintenance’ (which probably more suggests ‘no maintenance’), but they do have maintenance gardener who visits every few weeks or so.

  Despite the garden’s generous size and its potential to entertain guests none of clients are especially interested in entertaining or dining outside and are quite happy to do so indoors nor are they wanting to add an extension to the house. They are, however, quite proud of their lush green lawn and are not wanting it to be paved over or covered in gravel. The clients’ did, however, like the idea of revamping the back patio from the existing dull grey concrete finish to a more attractive finish using broken slate stone of different shapes and sizes as well as incorporating overhead arch with a climbing flower to denote a doorway, as it were, to the rest of the garden. No artificial or synthetic materials (i.e. plastics) are desired by the clients. The existing plastic pots would probably need to be removed to make way for materials that appear more organic like clay and terracotta.

  The clients also like the idea of having attractive but not too obtrusive focal points throughout the garden to make the garden appear interesting. I did mention during our meeting of including focal points like a birdbath for example that would further embellish the garden's meditative feel, and asked if the clients had a problem with birdlife visiting. The clients all remarked they are quite happy to have this. Another thing the clients all agreed upon was no statues. Given that the Nuns belong to a religious order the designer asked if they would like to see a statue of a particular saint or Christian icon placed somewhere discreetly in the garden. All five nuns said they weren’t interested in that style and would like other ideas that would better reflect their taste.

  I did suggest a number of ideas and was correct in saying that I thought they would enjoy a garden that is functional but also traditional in its aesthetics. I also suggested the idea of creating a garden that reflected the work the Sisters do and as well as complimenting the décor of the interior of their home. The idea being that the garden would feel like outdoor extension of the dining and reading room, and vice versa. I mentioned also a garden space that was very akin to a meditation garden or a garden space that encouraged reflection and quiet contemplation, or simply a garden to read or discuss quietly various topics of interest between themselves or guests, without being indicative in any way to a particular denomination or religious creed.

  The Sisters enjoyed this idea as they admitted to having guests from all backgrounds who enjoy visiting. By employing this aesthetic the garden would feel open to everyone as well as encouraging a sense of serenity and inner quietness. In additional, in terms of colours being used, the clients prefer warm, comforting autumn colours. As mentioned earlier in this brief the designer noticed the main colours of the clients artefacts were browns, oranges, reds and greens.

And this is what I came up with . . .

The principal theme behind this garden design project was to design and outlay a plan that, hopefully, would resemble a Meditation Garden for the client.

  The clients in particular are five nuns-in-residence who reside in a large terrace house in the west London neighbourhood of Acton. They are not formal or traditional in their attire or religious dogma, instead they are community workers whose work supports the Borough of Ealing. As a result, their attitude to work and domestic leisure time could best be described as very relaxed and homely. With this in mind; I wanted to create a garden that would provide the clients a unique space to sit and reflect on their lives and community work within a garden which I hoped would be symbolic of their spirituality and personal beliefs.

  The clients were very clear as to what they liked already in their garden and what they would like to see featured in the masterplan of the design: No statues, no religious deities. Given that the clients’ community work is ‘faith based’ I wanted to design a garden that resembled the interior of a small village parish church.

  The garden masterplan now features a paved walking path around the perimeter of the garden. Starting from the patio there is a two-step elevation on both sides of the garden: one vertical (right-side) and the other running horizontal. The walking path features a pair of seated benches that allow the clients and visitors alike to sit quietly and admire their natural surroundings as well as the centrepiece that is the garden’s main focal point. The garden is dotted with terracotta plots in different sizes. Each pot is planted with Helenium Autumnale. Their colour is an intense but very beautiful orange. The idea for this was to symbolise lit candles seen in most parish churches. The number Helenium flowers in each pot are spare given the intensity of their colour along with the fact that candles within parish churches also appear sparse and random. I was also conscious of not allowing the Heleniums to be too overbearing with their vibrant colour.

  Walking along South Facing Boundary there is seated bench to allow the client and visitors alike to admire the garden before them and take in some quiet time. One both sides of the seated bench is Senecio Cineraria. Further along toward the West Facing Boundary this area is mostly shaded and features another seated area in front of a large brick wall for quiet reflection. On both sides of the seated bench is a standing Dicksonian Antarctica surrounded by planted Polystichum Setiferum and Hosta Halcyon, and at the font of this garden bed is Huschera Americana in mixed colour to contrast with the Dicksonia and Polystichum.

   During the course of our initial meeting the clients instructed they would like the utility shed to remain as well as the large existing tree (situated top right hand corner), but would be happy for the large existing tree to be hedged back to allow it not to be overbearing with the tree ferns and shrubs within the shaded area. They advised that they weren’t interested nor wanting religious statues or deities; just a colourful garden that allowed for reflection and/or quiet conversation. However, what I wanted to incorporate into the garden plan were colours that were redolent of their spiritual faith and tradition. Given that clients are nuns (i.e. Catholic) I took the initiative of including blue, red, white and purple flowers; colours that feature prominently in Catholic iconography. In other words, the colour of flowers chosen for this plan are meant to be symbolic and are subtle in their suggestion. Along the North Facing Boundary the Designer has included a semi-circled shaped garden bed of blue mascari amenicum and white narcissus.

  In the of the middle of the plan is the main feature of garden; the principal focal point. This feature consists of random cut pieces of slate stone to resemble a giant-sized mosaic (as it were). Two shapes have been used in contract to each other; a rectangle and a circle positioned in the middle. In the middle of the large circle is large plaster Urn. Inside the Urn is purple Salvia Nemorosa surrounded by hanging Hedra Helix. And at the base of the Urn is red Rhododendron Simsii. The Urn works out to be a focal point for visitors and the clients that is not overbearing and whose shape is redolent of a chalice.