29/05/2025
It was great to see so much use interesting use of natural stone at Chelsea Flower Show 2025 - nothing else compares and it is what we almost exclusively use.
These beautiful yellow paddlestones were the perfect choice to clad the retaining walls in this steeply sloping garden we designed in Shortlands, Bromley a few years ago.
Not only are they softer and more interesting than other cladding options because they are not too uniform, but their irregular shapes also provide plenty of nooks and crannies for insects and self-seeding beneficial plants.
We used minimal amounts of limestone paving with its beautiful fossils (scroll to see) for the seating areas - being careful to keep surfaces permeable by using gravel around and in between the slabs, and specifying a permeable sub-base.
To form the smaller walls that were needed to make the most of the steeply sloping site, we chose to use steel gabion baskets to reduce the use of concrete and to also create a habitat for invertebrates. We repeated the paddlestones in the gabions, but specified to the landscapers that they should re-purpose rubble from the build to fill the bulk of them - only using the paddlestones to dress the faces on view.
We relish the opportunity to use natural materials whenever possible, and we will always consider the lowest impact build methods. Whilst in this garden some concrete was inevitably needed, due to the sloping nature of the small site, the retaining walls were designed by a structural engineer and are built to last.
The result is the transformation of a small, steeply sloping and vastly unusable site into a garden with distinct and very usable areas - all with a soft and naturalistic feel to them, despite the inevitable straight lines of the design. The garden is filled with trees, climbers and pretty but resilient, drought tolerant planting. And is now being hugely enjoyed by our client (and her lovely Max 🐶) as well as a whole host of birds and insects.
🌱 Design, planting & seasonal garden care by us
🌱 Build by .landscaping.ltd
🌱 Paddlestones, boulders & gravel
🌱 Limestone paving
