Portfolio
The Moroccan Garden
Explore our projects for your outdoor transformation
The Moroccan Garden
Butler Landscapes Ltd was set the task of designing an English garden with Moorish influence for the LivingEdge Magazine and John Lewis store.
This garden demonstrated that the distinctive styles and influences and Moorish gardens need not be limited to gardens in hot Mediterranean climates but can be adapted and incorporated within an English setting.
This garden was designed for dinning and relaxing, with rendered walls to resemble an adobe (Sun-dried) brick material commonly used in Morocco. The tile detail echoing the intricate mosaics found in Morocco.
The garden was 12 meters by 8 meters and had a still water rill feature with a minaret at one end, a lower area for relaxation and an upper area based on a courtyard with rustic materials and detailed tiling. Within this enclosed area an ornate trellis to echo the trellis found in the Minaret. Beneath our sculpture sits an amphora jar planed with an agave. The long Rill pool creates a feeling of calm and is edged with ceramic tiles, this ties in with the paving detail elsewhere in the garden.
The design for this garden were loosely based on the minaret of the King Hassan 11 Mosque in Casablanca (the second largest mosque in the world after Mecca).
Within the show garden pots and climbers soften the hard landscaping, as does planting which overflows onto the paving. It was important the planting has the right balance of foliage, texture and colour. The main garden combined an interesting, exciting mix of traditional plants along with Exotics such as bananas and palms to give shape, texture and form. The Exotics were chosen to withstand English climates and the less hardy being grown in containers. The planting combinations ranged from an area of bright hot flowers contrasting with large green foliage to more subtle colours in the shaded areas.
Most exotics do require well-drained soil or compost; they do not want to be sitting in a bog during the winter. So, mix sharp sand or gravel and well-rotted organic mixture into heavy soils to lighten them and improve drainage. Another important consideration, as with all plants, is aspect and positioning as this can make a huge difference. Use microclimates beneath tree canopies, beside house walls or in south facing corners as this can make all the difference to growing healthy exotics.
The exoctics we used in this garden were:- Chamaerops humilis European Fan Palm, Dicksonia antarctica, Phoenix canariensis (Date Palm) and Trachycarpus fortunai (Chusan Palm).
This garden was also proud to show cases the ‘Happy Retirement’ rose. One of the many sponsors for this garden, Mary & John Jinks from The Country Garden Centre had the world exclusive rights on the rose that year. Rosa Happy Retirement is a free flowering Floribunda with masses of beautiful shell-pink blooms and a delicate perfume. It only grows to between 2-3ft and is as happy in a container as in the garden.
Trees such as Robinia Pseudoacacia and Gleditsia Tracanthos provided great height and interest within the planting scheme and helped to create natural shaded areas.