Rowland Byass – Landscape Architect

Project: Rushy House

Completion Date: June 2005

Location: Brixton, London

This garden belongs to a formerly abandoned house, the Regency vicarage of St. Matthew’s church, Brixton. Like the house, the garden was effectively abandoned for nineteen years before refurbishment. The garden contains many self-seeded trees and herbaceous plants from this time, including swathes of daylilies (Hemerocallis), Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), climbing roses and masses of naturalised bluebells and crocuses.

I redesigned the garden to give some geometry and order to the shapeless wilderness, making it feel more like a garden and relating it to the house. It was also important to keep the garden’s romantic atmosphere and value for wildlife (it is home to foxes, squirrels and several birds including woodpeckers).

A central lawn with a curved return is centered on a large existing copper beech tree. Its shape repeats the typical Regency bays of the house. From the lawn, axial paths lead through the wooded surrounding area, leading to another lawn of rough grass, and to the end of the garden where it terminates in a living willow arbour. A thorny mixed native hedge was planted along the western boundary for security and habitat value, with a hedge of large evergreen cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) along the northern boundary for privacy. Ornamental planting is confined to the lawn area, with a large border planted in a naturalistic style with grasses and late flowering perennials.