Arjan Boekel’s choice of plants and their positioning achieves depth in this 13m by 11m courtyard garden, helping to make it feel larger that its, with its light canopy of small leaves and airy branch structure, allows for views through them in all directions. “I also like to leave some space between the lowest branches and the top of the understorey planting.” Although he wanted to create a layered effect to mimic the woodland edge, he did not use shrubs in the central beds. “Shrubs would be too bulky, and compete with the trees.” Instead, he mounded the soil in the beds to a height of about 30cm for his limited palette of plants, and chose species with delicate inflorescences, such as the early flowering evergreen sedge and the perennial foxglove , to maintain transparency. To create depth at the southern side and back of the garden, he uses a repeat planting of , chosen for its large leaves, which turn shades of red and purple in autumn and for its subtle flowers, combined with taller ‘Grace’, which also creates a blaze of orange in autumn, in front of the green backdrop of grown against the boundary fence. This also helps to soften the edges in this part of the courtyard.
