Banks Landscapes
Portfolio

Before, during and after

Real gardens, photographed honestly across their whole life: as found, under construction, at handover, and well into their maturity. A garden is only finished when it has grown into itself.

Build | A working kitchen garden

A steeply sloping, overgrown back garden turned into a productive kitchen garden. The ground dropped away sharply from top to bottom, so nothing could be grown until the slope was held. We cut into the bank, set steel posts deep into the ground and built oak sleeper retaining walls to carve level terraces out of the hillside, then brought in fresh topsoil and set out raised beds sized so every corner can be reached from the path.

The finished kitchen garden: oak-edged raised beds, sandstone patio and pond, seen from the top of the slope
The garden before work began, overgrown grass and old sheds Before — winter, as found
During the build, retaining posts set in concrete footings During — setting the retaining posts
After the build, raised beds planted with the first season's vegetables After — freshly planted

Holding back the slope

The hardest part of this garden was never the planting — it was the fall of the land. These show the slope being cut, anchored and retained before a single bed could be filled.

The steeply sloping plot before work, rough grass falling away from the top of the garden The sloping plot, as found
A hand-drawn cross-section sketch of the oak sleeper retaining wall, showing sleepers, steel, membrane and concrete Working sketch
A deep step cut into the sloping ground, exposing the height of the bank to be retained Cutting into the bank
Steel posts set deep into concrete footings to anchor the retaining wall Steel posts anchored deep
The finished oak sleeper retaining wall with steel brackets, holding back the higher ground Oak sleeper wall holding the slope
Finished raised beds edged in oak, freshly filled with topsoil Levelled

Planting | A cottage garden

We laid this brick path and planted the borders on either side of it, then kept an eye on the garden in the seasons since. Cottage planting like this wants room to spread, and it has: the perennials and self-seeders have grown into one another until the path feels part of the borders instead of a line through them. The photographs show the same borders at different ages. After the first couple of seasons it asked very little of us. Mostly it just wanted time.

The brick path, borders newly planted Newly planted
The same path, borders filling out Filling out
A large terracotta pot planted with a shrub on the lawn of the mature garden A corner of the mature garden
Terracotta pots and mature planting by the gravel path Early summer

Planting | Country borders

Deep mixed borders wrapped around a brick country house: irises, roses, foxgloves and box, planted for structure in winter and colour from spring through autumn. Photographed in early summer, once the borders had established.

Wide view of the mixed borders in full early-summer flower In full flower
Bearded irises in flower at the border's edge
Roses and mixed planting against the house wall

Grounds | Around the estate

Details from grounds we build and keep: brickwork, gates, orchard and espaliered fruit, in high summer.

Detail of a brick wall's rounded coping course
Five-bar gate into the orchard
Espaliered apple tree trained along wires
House and orangery seen across the lawn
Clipped evergreens flanking timber barn doors
Mowing the orchard in summer

Thinking about your own garden?

Every one of these started with a walk around the site.

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