This particular project had several requirements in the client brief; to create a stylish atmosphere, in which to dine and kick a football around, to insert a new pergola without damaging an existing wisteria and to hide a large appartment block that lay directly in front of it.
I did this, against my nature, by maintaining and re.shaping the existing, high maintenance, high water consuming fine lawn and constructing a living wall of olive trees and purple ornamental cherry trees that I placed alternately and espaliered them against a series of wires. This formed a living barrier of silver grey and bordeux coloured foliage, without occupying too much space. The planting in front of this was comprised of mainly Mediterranean plants and some old english favourites.
The pergola was constructed underneath the old existing wisteria, which was supported by ropes during the construction of the pergola. We then lowered the ancient wisteria back on to the new pergola after its construction with no damage whatsoever to the plant. After a renovation prune it flowered profusely in the first year, with no problems.
The stunning vies of Siena that can be seen in the pictures was framed by using Italian cypress trees that were pruned to the precise height to remain in scale with the garden's surroundings.
The client was overjoyed with the end result and so was I.