BBC Gardeners World Live

The client is a thirty-something bachelor who enjoys the finer things in life, fast cars, sharp suits and big watches.

This guy has it all except a sleek back garden in which he can entertain his colleagues and lady friends.

 He isn’t into flowers and has asked that the planting be focused on texture and form rather than blousy blooms like the garden at his Grandmother’s.

 He asked for a sense of seclusion to the rear of the garden where an outdoor fireplace will provide heat during chilly summer evenings.

 The modern lines of the seating areas and adjoining path reflect his dynamic approach.

Our cutting edge, non-floral, texture-based planting scheme allows him to keep his machismo intact.

MATERIALS

Sawn Versuso Jumbo King in Antique Silver Multi porcelain; Slate stone; Iroko wood; Perspex screen.

PLANTS

Shaggy wood fern - Dryopteris cycadina; Bush flax - Astelia nervosa ‘Westland’; Echeveria ‘Curly Locks’; Coral bells - Heuchera ‘Silver Scrolls’; Purple Silk Tree - Albizia julibrissin ‘Summer Chocolate’; Sedge - Carex testacea; Mirror Plant - Coprosma repens ‘Pacific Night’; Sea holly - Eryngium planum 'Jade Frost'; Blue fescue - Festuca glauca 'Elijah Blue'; Coral bells - Heuchera ‘Caramel’; Euphorbia - Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae; Fortunei - Saxifraga Black Ruby; Brunnera - Brunnera macrophilla 'Looking Glass'; Switch grass - Panicum virgatum 'Dallas Blues'; Painted lady fern - Athyrium niponicum var. pictum; Rodgers' bronze-leaf - Rodgersia podophylla; Scouring rush - Equisetum hyemale; Baneberry - Actaea simplex ‘Brunette'; Honey bush - Melianthus major; Wood fern - Dryopteris ‘Brilliance’; Bowles's golden grass - Milium effusum ‘Aureum’; Silver spear - Astelia ‘Silver Spear’; Black-leaved Clover - Trifolium repens ‘Atropurpureum’; Maidenhair vine - Muehlenbeckia complexa.