An inner city garden evolves with its owners and this newly imagined woodland shade garden in Brighton, East Sussex has previously consisted of a rectangle of lawn and a shed before morphing into a cottage garden for an older couple. J &  T wanted their space to be a maneagable, sustainable retreat that worked with their soil and aspect, with plenty of native naturalising bulbs and evergreen ferns, herbs and edibles. Long flowering perennials are strategically planted in brighter corners of the patio allowing the borders to fill with lush green textures

Crushed shell recycled from the fisheries forms the central meandering path between Corten steel edged beds, a fabulous alternative to extractivist materials like gravel and in this case, complimenting the existing silver birch and bringing light to a shady path

Photographs from l-r :- before, concept art and completion