Museum of Garden History - The Ark Garden

The Garden at the Ark

The garden at The Ark was made in 1995 in the old playground (above) of the Victorian school built in 1880 and known as St. Mary's Infant School. The main design criterion was to create a garden for about 100 people; the number we might expect at a large function in the lecture hall. This meant the garden would have a greater proportion of hard to soft landscaping. Such large areas of paving in a relatively small garden can be overpowering so we designed the hard surfaces with unusual attention to detail. The central path unfolds like a diamond patterned carpet studded with light reflecting ceramic tiles.

A pebble and tile mosaic surrounds a tapestry of plants and ancient river washed tiles fan out around the base of a formal raised pool. Detailed trellis, painted the richest peacock blue, decorates arbours and screens and dove grey ironwork forms delicate arches across the garden.

As the garden matures plants like Carpenteria californica, Trachycarpus fortunei and Nerium oleander clothe the boundaries and the site increasingly becomes a peaceful haven in this noisy, busy city.

Anne Jennings, Garden Director

Above and below : The Ark garden featured a lily pool, arbours and mosaics

Plants in The Ark garden - Below left to right : Cydonia oblonga 'Vranja' (Quince) , Convolvulus mauritanicus, Hydrangea 'Quadricolor', Carpentaria californica.

The Ark was sold by the Museum's Directors in 2005.

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