In the Sitting Spiritually Garden, Part 2 with Jarmanmurphy

We love being involved in the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, and it was a real pleasure to be asked by Sitting Spiritually to design and plant their 10th anniversary stand at this year’s show. The show was a great success for them, and they received a 4 Star Award for the stand, which had us all celebrating and smiling for the whole event.

The idea before the show was to re-home the Chelsea plants in the Sitting Spiritually garden, back in Lyme Regis, so we always had areas in mind for the plants to slot in amongst the existing planting. This plan has since expanded to include the redesign of the planting across the whole bottom section of the garden: veg beds, pond…you name it. This is the jarmanmurphy dream! 

We will use the recent drone shots to help us redesign this half of the garden, something that we haven't done before. It’s really exciting to be able to see the garden from the air, looking as we designed it all those months ago, and interesting to observe how the plants grow together and create shapes that you wouldn't necessarily notice at ground level. The aerial shots will offer us a view to sketch over and provide us with areas which we can then measure and plan in more detail. We draw all our plans by hand, using a computer for putting final presentation documents together, as we feel the garden really comes to life through the end of our pen and often unfolds as we draw.

The ground will be cleared, with some existing plants being potted up and squirrelled away for use in the new design. We suspect there are some raised beds for vegetables lurking in the undergrowth, and exposing them will instantly give structure to this part of the garden and will be a feature within the space that we can develop. The paths will be left where they are; the family have been in the house and using the garden for around 20 years, so that is simply the best place for them.

The Chelsea plants will form the beginnings of a scheme for this part of the garden with more added to link to the planting we did last year. There are areas of shade in which we will plant Dryopteris erythrosora ferns, the bronzy fronds picking up the ruby red Astrantia major ‘Roma’ and russet Anemanthele. Pimpinella rosea, Scabiosa ‘Moondance’ and Cirsium rivulare will enjoy the hotter, sunnier beds and will be held together by a ground covering layer of Lotus hirsutus and scrambling Trillium rubens. Running through and linking the new planting will be evergreen Luzula nivea and Anemanthele, with Briza media and Melica altissima ‘Alba’ adding twinkly highlights from their delicate flower spikes in the shadows. Planting drifts of bulbs though the grasses in the beds will offer bursts of colour and interesting forms and will add other layers of interest throughout the year.

Clients such as Martin and Celia are so enthusiastic and encouraging of our work and we love how they let us bring them new varieties and plant groupings. We always try to include a few special varieties in our schemes, as we know Martin gets just as excited about watching the plants grow as we do; we often have FaceTime calls from him in the garden when he spots something new and wants to share it with us!

Sitting Spiritually would like to thank Jarmanmurphy We would also like to offer our congratulations to them for being a Finalist in the SGD Awards, we know they are wonderful and talented and this is due recognition!

If you would like to contact Sarah Jarman or Anna Murphy to discuss your own project:

Sarah Jarman +44 7872 972259
Anna Murphy  +44 7812 086104

jarmanmurphy.co.uk