Catherine HeatheringtonAt Notcutts we’re really pleased to have caught up with Catherine Heatherington, an enthusiastic and exciting garden designer known for creating innovative and inspiring gardens for a range of clients including the RSPB. Catherine’s gardens not only have brought joy to their owners, but have also attracted a lot of media attention too, being featured in the likes of the London Evening Standard and Sunday Telegraph.
You’ve worked with Alex Johnson on a wildlife garden based in Flatford Mill, which was commissioned by the RSPB and is open to the public. Could you tell us a bit more about it?
The garden is designed to show people how they can attract wildlife into their own gardens. Alex and I at DesignWild, believe it’s important that when designing a wildlife garden you think about both the people who will use it and look after it, and the wildlife. We also like to show how you can have a contemporary design whilst still attracting wildlife. A good example is a pond. As long as you have different depths of water, plants and a way for wildlife to get in and out, you can have a contemporary rectilinear design that will work with the house and the patio for instance. The RSPB garden also has a wide range of plants – different layers of trees, shrubs and ground cover are good habitats for birds and mammals, and lots of flowering plants throughout the season provide pollen and nectar for insects.
What has been your most challenging project to date and how did you overcome the obstacles?
I designed a garden in Sweden at Liseberg Amusement Park in Gothenburg. The challenge was learning about the climate, the different ways of working and the different materials and plants in a short space of time. I had to liaise closely with different professionals – the team at Liseberg and the local landscape architects working on the project. Working with the landscape architects was great – there was so much that we could learn from each other.
People often think that in a small garden, they should make it look bigger by having a big lawn and plants around the edge. But in fact that makes the garden look smaller because you can see it all at once. To make the garden appear bigger create points of interest that will take your eye around the garden rather than straight to the end. Or even divide up the space so it is revealed to you bit by bit. Create a reason to go down to the end of the garden – this could be a bench or a bird feeder or a scented plant.
What are your favorite ways to bring an exciting contemporary feel to the garden?
The important thing for my designs is to create the structural framework for the garden with the hard landscaping. Then to contrast this with dynamic and exciting planting. I always refine the design to make sure there are no superfluous elements; everything should be there for a purpose. My designs are all about balance and proportion; really it is about sculpting space in 3D with the added complication of time.
You’re a fan of dramatic planting, are there any flowers that tend to always slip into your designs? In your opinion what are the best plants for creating a dramatic effect?
This is a difficult one. I love so many plants and do tend to have favourites for a couple of years and then discover something I hadn’t thought of before. Although of course there are architectural forms that give drama throughout the year, but I do like to make exciting statements that are more short-lived – plants that flower for a month or so and give surprise and dynamism to the design. In spring I love Hellebore foetidus with narcissus – that limey green with a lemon yellow is wonderful, and also Hellebore orientalis. I love discovering the tiny flowers of Epimediums. In summer you must have a Trachelospermum jasminoides – it has wonderful scent. At the moment I love Aster x frikatii ‘Monch’ – the flowers are a wonderful color and it flowers later in the season so extending the supply of pollen and nectar for insects. My favorite in my own pond is a purple loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria. Surprisingly this loves being planted in water and is a mass of flowers and bees for weeks. I also adore foxgloves, especially Digitalis ferruginea.
Ponds are high maintenance, but water is the one of the most important things you can have in the garden for wildlife. Having a recycling water feature is lovely for the sound of water and there are loads to choose from. However they are not necessarily good for wildlife. Birds will come to a water bowl to drink and so maybe this is the simplest thing to have in the garden.
What is your advice on maintaining water features such as a pond?
As I said ponds are high maintenance, but they are also very rewarding. It makes sense to read about how to create a wildlife pond before you start and to think about what you want from the pond. For instance fish are not a good thing to have if you want a wildlife pond. When I design a contemporary pond for a client I always talk about how they can attract wildlife and what this means for the design of the pond. I don’t use high tech filters and things that ‘zap’ the little water bugs. I create a simple gravel filter and recycle the water with a pump through the bed of gravel. The gravel is where I plant as well. As with all gardening I think maintenance is something that should be done little and often. Walk round the garden every day and then you can see what needs doing and not let anything get out of hand. Site the pond fairly close to the house so you don’t conveniently forget about it. You will also be able to watch the wildlife from the comfort of the house.
What does the magic of gardening mean to you?
Seeing new shoots of crocus and snowdrops in late winter, carefully cutting back epimedium leaves to reveal tiny flowers in spring, hearing the birds singing as they start to build their nests and watching as they bathe in the pond. Tadpoles! Eating out with friends. Digging potatoes. Grasses backlit in the autumn. These are just a few things but really they are all about one thing – change. The garden is always changing and therefore always exciting and always a challenge.
