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
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!”
“I think I can say this is the smallest garden I’ve designed,” says Orchard, “and for my most difficult client!”
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.”
“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.”
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.
Check out 8 challenges that first-time gardeners face
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The ‘clients’ appear to be very happy with their new garden.
Read more:
10 Clever Urban Gardens
Tell us:
Have you created a miniature garden? Share your ideas and photos in the Comments below.
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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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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