Seeking Resilience

This small inner-city pocket park is a place for both people and nature to come in and seek respite. Plants growing out of wall crevices and self-seeders such as Erigeron are dotted around to give it a soft, romantic feel of nature reclaiming the space. Throughout the garden, hardy meadow and prairie species weave together, forming an attractive yet functional plant community. 

Seeking Resilience explores the joys of living alongside nature and working with ecological processes, while maintaining the delicate balance between wilder and more formal elements. Inspired by her mum’s strength during recent cancer treatment, the designer wanted to create an enveloping space that nurtures resilient plants and people. A small stream weaves through the garden, while the clean lines of the seating and paving cut through billowing mists of grasses.

Sustainability is central to Seeking Resilience, from the climate-resilient planting to the reclaimed hard materials. The garden illustrates how visitors can increase biodiversity through introducing a soft-edge pond, nesting boxes or pollen- and nectar-rich planting.

Key plants: Cotinus (smoke bush), Alchemilla mollis (lady’s mantle), Dipsacus (teasel), Rhus typhina (staghorn sumac)