Basement Garden Chelsea

The Brief was to create a lush courtyard garden with year-round appeal. This tiny, North-facing basement garden at the bottom of a five storey Central London townhouse receives little in the way of natural light or rainfall, being surrounded by tall buildings. As a result plants were selected based on their suitability to shade and a micro irrigation system was installed. Each plant’s form, texture, foliage and reflective qualities were given paramount importance, to try to illuminate this dark space naturally. A Multi-stemmed Coral-bark Maple lights up the darkest corner with its acid green foliage, butter-yellow Autumn colour and striking bright red winter stems. A Trompe l’oeil mirror set at an angle not only reflects light back into the garden, but also reflects the curving path and the two plant-covered pergola arches which run into it. The reflection deceives the eye into thinking that there is no mirror at all but instead that there are simply four pergola arches which seem to run through into another area of garden beyond.