sheila jack landscapes

Client: Private
Status: Completed 2021
Architect: Giles Quarme & Associates

Featured in House & Garden magazine, April 2023

A surprisingly large central London garden for a Grade II listed Georgian terraced house in RBKC completely refurbished by Giles Quarme & Associates. The scheme embraces the natural beauty of the existing Magnolia and Mulberry trees and seeks to enhance these with a planting scheme focussed on a Spring peak and the addition of mature multi stemmed Prunus yedoensis and structural evergreen hedging & large scale topiary.

Atmospheric woodland planting surrounding multiple seating areas and ‘site won’ urns and statuary create a strong sense of place

Photographs by Alister Thorpe

Client: Private
Status: Completed 2023
Architect: James Grayley Architects

Country garden scheme for a contemporary home designed by James Grayley Architects that sits sensitively in the historic remnants of the existing former agricultural building. The scheme embraces the natural beauty of the borrowed landscape with naturalistic planting and considered use of hedging and trees.

The design involved demolishing the existing hard standing, reusing the concrete waste in gabion walls, regrading the land and adding extensive areas of naturalistic pollinator friendly planting, a permeable driveway and cobbled terrace with a reflective tank and boulders sourced from the local quarry. A planted swale intercepts rainwater runoff from the surrounding fields

Client: Private
Status: Completed 2023
Architect: Neil Dusheiko Architects

The landscape takes inspiration from the new architectural interventions, existing & neighbouring trees and, the visionary clients. An extraordinary transformation of a Victorian terraced house in the heart of London by Neil Dusheiko Architects. The project embodies a profound commitment to well-being, sustainability, and a harmonious connection with the natural world. The garden looks to forge a seamless link between inside and out.

A bespoke, solid timber walkway encourages a journey into the garden spaces, leading to a raised Petersen brick terrace, in situ concrete bench and Corten reflective tank. The ‘missed brick’ wall casts artful shadows and gives glimpsed views of the secret gravel garden and firepit area beyond. Considered use of hedging obscures the shed storage to the rear of the garden.

Randomised gravel planting with oversize boulders and the light canopy of Multistemmed Chinese white birch trees, Betula albosinensis ‘Fascination’, and woodland edge planting augment the existing Ginkgo tree and create an interplay of shadow, gentle movement & sound all immersed in the ‘borrowed landscape’ of the neighbouring trees. A green carpet of interplanted Soleirolia soleirolii as a lawn alternative, forms a soft (walkable) junction with the existing concrete terrace

Photographs by Alister Thorpe

Client: Private
Status: Completed 2019

Featured in ‘Gardens Illustrated’ August 2022 https://www.gardensillustrated.com/gardens/town-and-city/sheila-jack-small-garden/

Formerly a back garden 'carpeted' with wall to wall astroturf with compacted soil and drainage issues.

After extensive groundworks the garden was re-imagined as a ‘glamour woodland’. Silver birch trees and shade tolerant planting surround a permeable, low maintenance gravel garden with space for the family to play table tennis or gather around the fire pit. A contemporary, linear terrace, softened with interplanting creates an extended relaxed seating area. The new powder coated steel balcony links the house and garden at first floor level.

Photographs by Lisa Linder

Client: Private
Status: Completed 2022

Masterplan and gentle interventions for a five acre country garden including a chemical free ‘Living’ pool. The pool is surrounded by simple wildflower meadow punctuated with Yew topiary and incorporates a ‘bund’ landform sculpted from the pool dig out which cocoons the pool area and enhances privacy with the neighbour’s boundary.

Extended herbaceous planting in two ‘hot spots’ bordering the existing terraces maximises their impact. A stepped lawn cuts through an existing retaining wall near the south facing terrace and opens up a framed view to the fields beyond. Removing an old boundary fence relinks the house to its landscape. An informal allée of Malus ‘Evereste’ (Crabapple) trees – the odd one missing here & there, as if they had always been there and one or other had been lost over time has been added amongst longer grass interplanted with naturalising Narcissus poeticus var. recurvus and Camassia leichtlinii. A central mown pathway leads the eye out to the beautiful views.

At the front of the house, the sense of arrival is quietly enhanced by cloud pruning existing hedging and adding further topiary and shade tolerant planting to frame the front door. A newly extended driveway moves parking away from the front of the house

Photographs by Lisa Linder

Client: Private
Status: Completed 2019
Interior designer: Louise Holt Design

A contemporary scheme for this chic London mews house. A simple ‘welcome home’ at the front with a grouping of three oversized, handmade pots planted with an elegant multi stemmed Birch and underplanting of ferns, grasses, flowering perennials with spring flowering bulbs for seasonality

At the rear we created a garden space where previously there was none. Mature trees that were enshrouded in concrete and paving can now breathe, pleached Hornbeams and another multi stemmed birch filter out the urban landscape and lush shade tolerant planting is thriving in difficult growing conditions

Photographs by Lisa Linder

Client: Private
Status: Completed 2023

Deceptively simple interventions have transformed both front and rear gardens for this recently renovated villa in Notting Hill.

At the front, we worked with the existing paving using curves to greatly enhance and enlarge the planted area whilst still retaining sufficient off street parking and adding a bespoke bin store.

Two multi stemmed Prunus serrula trees add light screening of views from the street giving privacy. The beautiful polished mahogany bark adds year round drama. The trees are underplanted with grasses, perennials and layers of bulbs to give successive flowering Feb-November.

In the rear garden, formerly entirely paved, we again took circular forms as the inspiration and added another Prunus serrula specimen tree to link the two garden areas. Stone pavers follow curving edges, setting them on a diagonal greatly enhances the sense of space. A simple clay bowl filled with water doubles the impact of the planting, adding reflective light and ‘bringing the sky down’. A bespoke curving timber bench with tailored outdoor cushions maximises the available space and a bespoke outdoor kitchen is perfect for a client that likes to BBQ year round. Adding the firepit/occasional table has made a wonderful place to gather family and friends to catch the last of the sun

Awarded 5 Stars by RHS

Sheila designed and implemented a planting scheme for Tom Raffield’s 2019 RHS Chelsea Flower show trade stand.

The planting was inspired by Cornwall, specifically the gardens tucked into the sheltered valleys of the Helford river leading down to the estuary. Tree ferns Dicksonia antartica, unfurling shuttlecock ferns, Matteuccia struthiopteris, and Rodgersia podophylla flow into open glades of meadow with Aquilegia, Iris siberica, Red campion Silene dioica, Ragged robin Lychnis flos-cuculi, sweetly scented Valeriana officinalis, culinary and aromatic Cumin and Geranium spilling over and softening the planting edge

https://www.vogue.com/article/at-2019s-chelsea-flower-show-wild-survivalist-gardens-grow

Photographs Tom Young Photography

Client: Private
Status: Completed 2014

Featured in ‘Gardens Illustrated’, May 2022
https://www.gardensillustrated.com/gardens/town-and-city/white-urban-garden/

After the construction of a garden studio this typical London garden was badly in need of a redesign. The children had outgrown the need for a lawn and the family needed an access pathway between the house and the studio.

South facing, quiet despite its central location, the garden now provides an escape from city life with a simple, buff York stone terrace near the house providing dining and seating areas leading to a semi-circular gravel pathway cutting through exuberantly planted, predominantly green and white borders. 

Climbing, shrub and rambling roses, tall bearded irises, perennials, bulbs and grasses punctuated by Yew domes create both seasonal change and year round structure, blur the boundaries with the neighbouring gardens and create privacy for the studio

Photographs by Britt Willoughby Dyer

Front gardens need to be a functional space but can also create a sense of welcome, a place to socialise, an oasis for wildlife and be a gift to your neighbours. In a city where 50% of front gardens have no plants, the ones that do can provide moments of joy.

In our Kensington scheme, where there was no ‘garden’ to speak of, we used planters to accommodate a simple evergreen planting scheme. Lining the flagstone path are oversize lead planters brimming with Pittosporum mounds. A two tierred planter located on a roof space above a plant room allows enough soil depth for an Osmanthus burkwoodii tree which provides height, transparent privacy screening and a focal point. Evergreen underplanting with layers of spring flowering bulbs add seasonality.

In Hammersmith, the bins are accommodated within a discreet cut away area below a simple parterre style planted area with low clipped Yew hedging surrounding a bed of white roses. Wrought iron railings to the street are low enough for the roses to spill over creating a sense of exuberance. The light screening of hard working Rosa ‘Iceberg’ mitigates the view toward the street and spreads happiness to both the client and passersby, blooming almost constantly from June to December.

In Notting Hill, simple interventions had a big impact. We were able to significantly increase the planted area, reconfiguring the existing paving with clever use of curves, whilst also leaving space for parking and a bin store. Two multi stemmed Prunus serrula screen views from the street adding privacy and the beautiful polished mahogany bark adds year round drama. The trees are underplanted with grasses, perennials and layers of bulbs to give successive flowering Feb-November.

Client: Private
Status: Completed 2019

This garden was designed as an integral part of overall renovations to the client’s home, creating a modern outdoor space consistent with the interior style. A garden for ‘grownups’ and nearly grown ups.

Contemporary use of textural limestone paving and decking, full width steps with shadow gaps softened by swathes of shade tolerant, aromatic and culinary planting. The design maximises the year round use of this small but relatively private garden with the inclusion of an outdoor fireplace, ambient lighting and built in seating for clients who love to entertain. Particular attention was given to views into the garden from the new kitchen and roof terrace

Completed Autumn 2019

Photographs by Lisa Linder

Client: Private
Status: Completed 2019
Winner 2021 Society of Garden Designers Awards

Featured in ‘Gardens Illustrated’, July 2020
https://www.gardensillustrated.com/gardens/town-and-city/south-london-garden-sheila-jack/

A deceptively simple design for a contemporary garden compliments the new architectural addition to a Victorian terraced house. An existing Cercis tree is retained as the focal point for a curving path and circular concrete terrace set within a soft textural meadow with dramatic colour accents

Pleached trees trained to follow the curve of the terrace give height, form and  privacy. Low input, high impact ‘meadow’ planting, randomly punctuated with orange, yellow and blue softens the brutalism of concrete paving

“I don’t think we expected it to be quite so lush. Somehow it is neat and wild all at the same time. It looks amazing from the study window upstairs and is the perfect place to sit, contemplate, or read a book. After everything that has happened in the world recently, we are incredibly grateful to have it.” Client

Photographs by Lisa Linder

Client: Private
Status: Completed 2024

A large garden set in bucolic Petersham close to Turner’s famous view of the River Thames, cows grazing on Petersham meadows, the common, woodland and Richmond Park

The original family garden was laid mostly to lawn, an entirely rethought masterplan for the garden allowed it to evolve now that the dynamic of the family has changed.

Client: Private
Status: Completed 2024
Architect: Brod Wight Architects

The family are undertaking major renovations led by Brod Wight Architects, with the new garden as an integral part of the design. Curving pathways immersed in layers of planting and bound by a flowing drystone wall encourage a journey leading through the garden to a series of places to sit, cook, entertain, relax

Client: Private
Status: Completed 2024
Architect: Neil Dusheiko Architects

A contemporary interpretation of a traditional cottage garden for a C19th terraced house being completely reimagined by Neil Dusheiko Architects. Modern raw materials – a polished concrete terrace and linear bench combined with Belgian clay pavers are softened by swathes of naturalistic planting. Cubes of Yew give evergreen structure within a meadow punctuated by wild roses, flowering perennials and grasses