Gardening heroine - Charlotte Rowe

Charlotte has established a hugely successful garden design business creating stylish and elegant contemporary gardens.  She also won a Gold medal at the 2014 RHS Chelsea Flower Show as well as numerous industry awards.  Here are some key elements of Charlotte’s gardens:

Strong geometry.  Tending towards straight lines rather than curves, Charlotte uses asymmetry to add interest, breaking up the space with large planting beds.  The view from the house often informs her design, as does the layout of windows and doors. 

Lush and stylish planting.  A restrained, unfussy and predominantly green colour palette is typical, especially in town gardens, with formal elements such as yew balls or cubes along with plants with textural foliage such as Pittosporum tobira ‘Nanum’ and euphorbias.  Hydrangeas such as H. ‘Annabelle’ and various perennials add pops of lime, purples and whites.  She uses hard working plants such as evergreen Trachelospermum jasminoides, which coats boundaries.  Fences are often painted in black and inky dark colours  to help them recede.

Smart and flawless hard landscaping.  She increases the sense of unity in a garden by using a limited number of high quality materials such as limestone, York stone and polished concrete.  This is often used in conjunction with gravel, for example as planks in gravel for textual interest.  Charlotte also tries to unify the flooring inside and out where appropriate.

Lighting, water and bespoke detailing.  Most of Charlotte’s urban gardens include fabulously designed lighting and are focussed on hard landscaping features and trees.  She is also talented at creating water features and inviting seating areas with bespoke details such as built in benches, fireplaces and outdoor cushions and accessories, which might introduce brighter colours.