Leopoldina Haynes' Small Garden

If you thought things couldn't get any better after that delicious Modern Country house tour of Leopoldina Haynes' home, you'd be wrong, wrong, wrong! Come on outside into the very small but perfectly formed garden, reached through the back of the kitchen double doors, and see what I mean.

Leopoldina Haynes' tiny garden has that heavenly mix of topiary and soft planting, which makes it utterly eye-catching and utterly, utterly Modern Country.

Designed in conjunction with Claire Mee Designs, the garden walls are lined with shutterboard cladding, painted in Dulux Chalky Downs 3, a delicious, chalky taupe shade. 

This is the predominant paint colour (in all its forms) used inside Leopoldina's house so brings a sense of continuity between the two spaces, as well as introducing a light and airy feeling, which seems to  enlarge the small space.

Leopoldina Haynes' garden has a limited but beautiful selection of plants, with a strong Mediterranean theme, in a tight palette of green and white, with the odd hint of colour

....namely: white hydrangeas...

rosemary....

myrtle.... {make sure you clock that vintage garden fork and spade!}

English roses...

fig trees....

olive trees...

cyclamen.....

and lavender, in a decorative concrete planter....

...placed lovingly beneath a vintage French mirror.

The table and chairs are from high-end Dutch company Free Line.

The floor material is river stone and the raised section is York stone.

Leopoldina Haynes has used a variety of cushions to make the seating more comfortable, in palest mushroom checks and stripes.

I love the idea of using baskets in soft-grey rattan for planting. These have been simply lined with plastic bin bags, with their bottoms  pierced for drainage. 

The hydrangeas look especially beautiful with this treatment - Modern and Country all at the same time. Yummy!

Be still, my beating heart!

And the topiary? Oh, the topiary...

Some box balls (buxus) are placed methodically between each of the five olive trees...

and others given the same divine grey rattan basket treatment...

Looking back into the house, Leopoldina Haynes has used a darker shade of Dulux Chalky Downs on the window frames, which has been echoed in the colour of the wooden planters...

This garden, though teeny-tiny small, has almost magically inviting properties, enticing you out on a summer's evening....

Modern Country garden heaven, no?

Images via: Leopoldina Haynes and Claire Mee on Pinterest