Garden Tour: A Mini Dino Park Designed for a 3-Year-Old

A designer creates a fantasy space for his trickiest customer yet – his young son

Victoria Harrison 22 July 2017

Editor, Houzz UK and Ireland

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Garden designer Simon Orchard has worked on a wide range of gardens for clients all over London, but when he was asked to construct this patch he had to face his most challenging client yet – his 3-year-old son Finley.

“I think I can say this is the smallest garden I’ve designed,” says Orchard, “and for my most difficult client!”

Simon Orchard Garden Design

Garden at a Glance
Who lives here: A family of miniature dinosaurs
Location: London
Garden size: Small
Client: Finley, 3-year-old
Designer Simon Orchard Garden Design (Finley’s father)

“My client for this project was quite demanding,” admits designer Simon Orchard. “He had a lot of things he wanted included in the design of this garden – shade, a water feature, greenery…”

Together the client (son) and designer (father) built a garden that encompassed all of these elements, resulting in a Jurassic landscape for the client’s collection of dinosaurs.

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Simon Orchard Garden Design

The starting point for the dino park was an old Belfast sink that Orchard had lying around in the garden. “I was wondering what I could do with it, and at the same time my son was just starting to get interested in dinosaurs so I decided to turn it into a dino park for him.”

Simon Orchard Garden Design

“I treated this like a proper design job,” says Orchard. “I sat down at my computer to design it!” First Orchard had to build a timber stand to raise the garden up to Finley’s height. “The base had to be very sturdy as the sink is so heavy.”

Simon Orchard Garden Design

Next, Orchard started to layer up the garden. Drainage was important, so he began by placing a permeable weed barrier across the bottom of the sink, then filled the sink two-thirds full with Leca, a lightweight aggregate, to allow water to drain out through the plughole. The weed barrier prevents the aggregate from falling out through the drainage hole but allows water through.

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Simon Orchard Garden Design

A layer of landscape fabric was added next to cover the aggregate, then Orchard added compost and another layer of landscape fabric before dressing the top with pea shingle. Holes were cut through the landscape fabric for the plants.

A pond was created with a regular pond liner and a hill was created with a partially submerged terracotta plant pot placed on its side.

Simon Orchard Garden Design

A Hebe forms a miniature tree on top of the hill (an essential food source for herbivore dinosaurs). Soleirolia soleirolii, commonly known as ‘Mind-your-own- business’, was used to cover the hillside in foliage.

Simon Orchard Garden Design

Orchard used pieces of slate to create a prehistoric landscape and to fashion a watery cave at the back of the pond. A fern, Polystichum setiferum, adds to the Jurassic feel of the miniature landscape.

Simon Orchard Garden Design

The ‘grass’ at the front, to the left, is Sagina subulata, Irish moss, and another Hebe – ‘Emerald Gem’ – creates foliage on the right. Sedum hakonense ‘Chocolate Ball’ adds an extra layer of colour at the back of the garden.

Simon Orchard Garden Design

The ‘clients’ appear to be very happy with their new garden.

Simon Orchard Garden Design

Read more:
10 Clever Urban Gardens

Tell us:
Have you created a miniature garden? Share your ideas and photos in the Comments below.

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mdm1955

My grandson, age 5, would definitely approve of your garden. Two days ago we had to go on a dinosaur hunt at the park. Since we came up empty handed maw-maw sprung for a dinosaur diesel train carrying dinosaur eggs of course. Now we'll have to build some Jurassic scenery following your lead. Thanks for some ideas and good job!

Like 2 October 2017 at 4:39am

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Suzette Greer

This is simply brilliant!!

1 Like 7 October 2017 at 10:34pm

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Scott Landscapes

This is really awesome for kids! Sometimes you just have to think outside the box a little to come up with an original idea that will bring joy and happiness to young souls !

Like 17 October 2017 at 2:07am