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Italianate
Oasis
Robin Templar Williams, APLD FSGD
July 2005
The area of garden described is a small part of a 35 acre private garden. The whole site gave me the opportunity to design a range of styles but my favorite and most challenging were the Water Gardens, which includes the Italianate area.
On
first visiting the garden and walking around with the client,
I was introduced to a rectangular shaped partial cut and fill,
with an approximate rise at the high end of 12 feet and six feet
at the lower end, retained by a flint wall. The surrounding area
including the cut and fill was completely overgrown with self
sown Ash, Sycamore and a variety of other large native shrubs.
Amongst this ramble, which had been left untended for more than
30 years, were half a dozen mature Trachycarpus fortunei
(palm) which, as it turned out, had been planted at the beginning
of the 20 th century – almost 100 years old! 
The
rectangular cut and fill had clearly been created specifically
for them but any evidence of an earlier garden was long gone.
To the lower side, south and to the east, mature woodland provided
protection, whilst allowing full sun for most of the year. Quite
a find and it was the palm trees which prompted my idea to create
an Italianate/Mediterranean Oasis in the middle of Surrey in southern
England.
The Italianate section of the water garden is in fact the last
and lowest section in a series of pools, streams and waterfalls
all created within an open paddock. The first challenge with the
Italianate garden was to clear the mature self-sown trees without
damaging the palms and then excavate to reduce the existing level
by approximately 18 inches to enable the importation of topsoil
to provide a good planting medium for additional plants. 
There
was no soil whatsoever within this area- the palms and trees were
growing in pure chalk.
To lose the rectangular shape and to provide planting areas to the near vertical slopes of the higher cut side, huge rocks were placed to create a natural escarpment/rock face. The average weight of each piece being 5 tons – if you are going to create a rockery, do it properly!
The whole scheme is informal, so that within a comparatively small space of approx 110 x 60 feet, the clients are able to completely lose and immerse themselves amongst the winding paths and lush planting. A waterfall cascades over the rocks from a height of approximately 9ft into a pool against which sits an oak deck and an Italianate style clay tiled roofed gazebo.
The
planting is very simple; quite deliberately using different greens,
leaf shape and textures to create the desired effect - a cool
and calming space, created with the use of foliage alone. There
is no consideration or emphasis on flower colour at all - this
is not a garden for flowering shrubs and perennials, not at least
in the conventional sense. To immediately achieve height and structure,
additional standard and multi-stemmed palms were sourced from
Italy.
This
garden was finished 6 or 7 years ago and now appears as if it
has stood for many decades. The original palm trees, almost lost
amongst the naturalizing woodland, can again be appreciated and
hopefully with good management and maintenance, the garden will
survive well into this century. 
About the Designer
Robin's career in the landscape industry began in 1979. Having gained practical experience from building and planting gardens for approximately 10 years his interest took him into garden and landscape design. He now finds himself designing gardens and lecturing around the world and more recently in Russia and the Ukraine. He is also co director of Garden Design School based in the UK, a private college which trains individuals to a professional level.
Certified Members seeking to be profiled should send before and after photos with SHORT design intent statement to:
Bethany Dennis
APLD Communications Manager
Email: communications@apld.org
Phone: 717-238-9780
* PHOTOS SHOULD BE CLEAR COLOR PRINTS OR JPEG COMPRESSED FILES