“This garden makes a huge difference to the lives of countless patients and their tireless support systems”
Rhianna Colyer, ITU nurse
The Garden design and build
Leading landscape and garden designers Bowles & Wyer have created this fabulous garden, designed by James Smith, taking into account input from patients, their relatives, doctors, nurses, psychologists and Occupational Therapists, among other hospital staff, and using their considerable experience in creating hospital gardens have brought this accessible and therapeutic garden space to life at Harefield Hospital. We hope you like it!
“To have this wonderful garden for patients to access is fabulous for wellbeing and health”
Katharine Scott, Trust lead for Older People and Physical Disability
Bowles & Wyer Design Statement
The healing garden occupies an important location within the hospital grounds and has the potential to breathe new life and vigor into this part of the site. We have designed the new communal garden with a free-flowing organic design, with long sweeping footpaths meandering through generous beds of planting and bulbs in long grass. At the heart of the garden lies an elliptical-shaped meeting place where staff, patients and visitors can mingle freely. Within this space is a raised flowerbed, with built-in seating and space for wheelchairs to be sat adjacent to it, enabling scented flowers to be within easy reach. Curved bench seating will be installed for groups to sit in comfort and socialise, or simply relax peacefully in the surroundings.
For those wanting privacy, small pockets of seating have been provided off the main pathways, nestled in amongst the planting. These spaces will provide a mix of fixed seating and space for wheelchair users to pull into. The intention is for the garden to act as a transition area for patients on the road to recovery, whether using wheelchairs or accessing by foot. The paths are however wide enough to cater for hospital beds if the need arises.
Hospital wards can often feel like restrictive and controlling environments and we wanted to break away from this feeling in the garden by creating a distinct contrast. The healing garden embraces informal, free flowing and curvaceous geometry with beds of planting hugging seating areas, providing opportunity for close interaction with nature.
There are a number of existing trees in the healing garden and the majority are proposed for retention, giving maturity to the garden. The free-flowing footpaths, edged in hornbeam hedging, work well in this scenario as they are flexible when weaving around existing rooting areas. No-dig construction principles will be followed where required to avoid any damage to existing tree roots with porous resin bound gravel and brick pavers proposed as the hard landscape materials.
An element of play is to be introduced for young visitors, and also to help rehabilitation of patients by way of stepping stones running through lawn areas and planting. There will be subtle lighting to bring the spaces to life at night, with a mix of path lighting and up-lighters to tree canopies.
For the planting palette, sensory plants will be important, the key aim is however to incorporate movement into the planting with large swathes of mixed ornamental grasses and flowering perennials. It is hoped that the maintenance will be kept to a minimum with most species only needing to be cut back in early Spring. Seed heads and spent flowerheads will be left over winter, providing a skeletal structure that can look stunning when the frost settles.
To complement the planted borders, there will be sweeping beds of bulbs in long grass. Species such Galanthus, Narcissus, Fritillaria and Camassia will be used to encourage naturalisation and repeat flowering year on year.
Healing Garden Plant list
Trees: Amelanchiar Lamarkii; Cornus kousa chinensis; Crataegus prunifolia splendens; Fagus Asplenifolia; Hamamelis x intermedia”pallida”; Koelreutia paniculata; Liquidamber styraciflua Worplesdon; Parrotia persica “Vanessa”; Prunus x Incam okame; Sorbus aria Lutescens.
Hedging: Carpinus betulus.
Shrubs: Daphne x transatlantica; Deutzia Gracilis Nikko; Hydrangea paniculata “limelight”; Lavandula augustifolia “Munstead”; Mahonia soft caress; Rosmarinus officinalis prostratus; Rosmarinus officinalis; Salvia officinalis; Sarcocca confusa; Viburnum Bodnatense.
Perennials: Agapanthus “windsor grey”; Amsonia tabernaemontana; Anenome x hybrid Konigin Charlotte”; Artemisia Powis Castle; Astrantia Roma: Cirsuim rivulare; Echinacia Pallida; Erigeron bourgatii; Geranium Oxonianum “Wargrave Pink”; Geranium Roxanne; Knautia Macedonia; Nepeta racemosa “Walker’s low”; Persicaria amplexicaulus “firetail”; Salvia verticillata “purple rain”; Sanguisorba “Tanna”; Verbena boniarensis; Viburnum bodnantense.
Bulbs: Narcissus silver chimes; Casmassia Leichtlinii Alba; Fritillaria meleagris Alba; Galanthus nivalis; Allium sphaerocephalon; Allium Purple sensation; tulipa mixta; Hyacinthoides non-scripta; Hederifolium cyclamen.
Grasses: Anemanthele Lessoniana; Calamagrostis x acutiflora Karl Foerster; Deschampsia cestiposa “Gold Tau”; Hakonelachloa macra; Libertia grandiflora; Melica uniflora albida; Molinia Caerulea “Poul Petersen”, Nasella tenuissima; Panicum Virgatum “Heavy metal”; Sesleria autumnalis; Stipa giganteum.
Ferns: Crytomium fortunei; Polystichum aculeatum.
Meet the landscaping team
James Smith, Design Director
James graduated with a first class honours degree and a postgraduate diploma in landscape architecture from the University of Gloucestershire in 2005 and joined Bowles & Wyer that year. James’s work for the company has covered most areas of landscape and garden design. In 2010 he designed a private garden that won both the BALI Grand Award and the Design Build award – a first. He was also responsible for overseeing work on the prestigious Lancasters project on Bayswater Road which contributed to B&W winning the NHGA Landscape Architect of the Year award 2011 as well as the BALI design excellence award , NHGA best Communal garden award 2011 and more recently the Society of garden Designers 2015 Award for best Public or Commercial Space). He has particular expertise is running jobs in a multi-disciplinary environment and he is able to take in the big picture while keeping a keen eye for detail.
James Smith, Design Director
James graduated with a first class honours degree and a postgraduate diploma in landscape architecture from the University of Gloucestershire in 2005 and joined Bowles & Wyer that year. James’s work for the company has covered most areas of landscape and garden design. In 2010 he designed a private garden that won both the BALI Grand Award and the Design Build award – a first. He was also responsible for overseeing work on the prestigious Lancasters project on Bayswater Road which contributed to B&W winning the NHGA Landscape Architect of the Year award 2011 as well as the BALI design excellence award , NHGA best Communal garden award 2011 and more recently the Society of garden Designers 2015 Award for best Public or Commercial Space). He has particular expertise is running jobs in a multi-disciplinary environment and he is able to take in the big picture while keeping a keen eye for detail.
Matthew Maynard, Operations Director
Matthew graduated from Merrist Wood in 1990 and gained national recognition before joining our group’s construction arm in 2006. He has over 20 years’ industry experience working on private and commercial construction projects in the UK and abroad. Matthew’s core expertise lies in competitive pricing and management of sizeable landscape maintenance portfolios for blue chip companies, high profile local authorities and private estates.
Matthew Maynard, Operations Director
Matthew graduated from Merrist Wood in 1990 and gained national recognition before joining our group’s construction arm in 2006. He has over 20 years’ industry experience working on private and commercial construction projects in the UK and abroad. Matthew’s core expertise lies in competitive pricing and management of sizeable landscape maintenance portfolios for blue chip companies, high profile local authorities and private estates.
Patients say it will help them
“feel part of the world” and provide “a place to come to terms with what has happened”
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All funds raised to go to the Harefield Healing Garden; a restricted appeal of the
All funds raised to go to the Harefield Healing Garden; a restricted appeal of the