The Morocco Garden at the Daily Telegraph House & Garden Fair

A NIGHT AND DAY GARDEN AT
THE 2006 DAILY TELEGRAPH HOUSE AND GARDEN FAIR:

THE MOROCCO GARDEN

Charlotte Rowe was invited to design one of the two feature gardens at the Daily Telegraph House and Garden Fair at Olympia in London. The theme was Night and Day so that visitors to the show could see just how carefully designed garden lighting can extend the use of the garden and dramatically change its appearance.

Sponsored by Moroccan specialists, Cadogan Holidays, Charlotte Rowe's design deployed a limited palette of colours, textures, materials and plants to create a magical tapestry of indigo blue, crimson and cream to create a classic 'Riad', the enclosed garden or courtyard found so often in traditional Moroccan and North African houses.

The Morocco Garden Hoyuse and Garden Fair

The day garden

The night garden

Charlotte's inspiration for the Moroccan garden was her first trip abroad at the age of six when she stayed on a family holiday in a traditional house in Tangier. Her memories of the sites, sounds and smells of the visit still remain vivid today, in particular the enclosed courtyard at the centre of the house. She wanted to recreate this in her feature garden and show how, even in Northern Europe, a calm oasis can be achieved within the most urban of spaces.

Moodboard 1

Moodboard 2

In the day garden, a path of cream limestone paving leads over a carpet of herbs to a central contemplation pool. Fragrant flowers perfume the area, green foliage mixed with lime green, creamy white and indigo blue provide seasonal interest, and there is a canopied day bed for repose and relaxation during the heat of the day. Crossing a water rill, one passes through an arched doorway into the night garden where tall arched windows of mirrored and deep Majorelle blue glass frame the contemplation pool which shimmers in the light from a stone fire bowl at its centre. The canopied bed is transformed into an intimate den, the curtains are drawn and it is decked with lanterns.

3D Mockup of the night garden

"The canopied bed is transformed into an intimate den, the curtains are drawn and it is decked with lanterns.."

The lighting, designed by specialists, LightIQ, provides a dramatic contrast between the day and night gardens using simple but effective lighting features to highlight features of the garden. The walls are lit with Swarvoski crystal fibre optics symbolising the dark starry skies of the rugged Moroccan landscape.

The curtains for the canopied beds were designed by garden textile designer, Jo Pearl and the garden was built by Modular Pro. Limestone was supplied by Stone Age, walls were limewashed using Francesca's Paints and the glass was supplied by Solaglas Dartford. Other partners were CED, Travis Perkins, Habibi, Barbed, RE and Robey's.

PLANTING

The planting palette in the Morocco Garden is lime green, creamy white, deep indigo blue and dark crimson. Plants supplied by Johnson's of Whixley and Crocus include:

– Alchemilla mollis
– Dahlia 'Rip City'
– Geranium 'Brookside'
– Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle'
– Knautia macedonica
– Nicotiana sylvestris
– Penstemon 'White Bedder'
– Perovskia atriplicifolia 'Blue Spire'
– Rosa 'Winchester Cathedral'
– Salvia nemorosa 'Caradonna'
– Thymus officinalis
– Trachelospermum jasminoides
– Old stock vineyard grapevine - Vitis vinifera

PARTNERS

Garden sponsored by...
Cadogan Holidays
Garden built by...
Modular Pro
Lighting designed and supplied by...

Light IQ
Limestone paving by...
Stone Age
Fabrics designed and supplied by...
Jo Pearl
Plants supplied by...
Crocus. co.uk
Johnsons of Whixley, Chobham
Limewash by...
Francesca's Paints Ltd
Glass supplied by...
Solaglas Dartford
Aggregates by...
CED
Moroccan styling by...
Habibi
Barbed

RE
Timber and materials supplied by...
Travis Perkins
Firebowl made by...
Robeys

85 MASBRO ROAD

BROOK GREEN

LONDON W14 OLR

TEL: +44 (0)20 7602 0660

design@charlotterowe.com

Photography: Clive Nichols, Marianne Majerus, Rob Brown, Light IQ,
Robert Pascall and Charlotte Rowe

Website designed by Montpellier Creative

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