Hotel Courtyard, Kensington High Street
A planting scheme that turns a Kensington hotel courtyard and entrance into an experience to be enjoyed and admired.
The garden
A large hotel courtyard and reception entrance had recently had its hard landscaping completely refurbished. The brief was to design a new planting scheme to suit the new layout and make the entrance an experience to be enjoyed and admired.
The hotel is in the middle of the city. Surrounded by high walls and neighbouring buildings, the courtyard is a sheltered microclimate with shady pockets for planting.
Evergreen plants are the backbone of the design. They complement a row of mature Magnolia grandiflora trees and give a rich backdrop of foliage to the flowering perennials and specimen plants. The layered branches of Viburnum plicatum ‘Kilimanjaro’ (Japanese snowball) are a focal point, with horizontal branches and early summer blossom followed by fiery orange and gold foliage in autumn.
Acer griseum (paperbark maple) trees add interest all year with peeling, papery, chestnut-coloured bark and glorious autumn colour. At the hotel reception, a pair of Ligustrum delavayi (evergreen privet) in pots gives formality and a strong accent.
See the garden
The plan
The planting plan for the courtyard. This is a drawing, not a photograph.
See it in motion
During the build
Plants laid out in their pots and checked against the planting plan before they go in.
Thinking about your own garden?
Tell Naomi what you have in mind. She reads every enquiry herself.
- RHS Chelsea Silver-Gilt
- London College of Garden Design
