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Before and after · long garden · full sun

Long garden ideas: a narrow gravel plot redesigned as a white gravel garden

A long, narrow plot of grey gravel with a grid of slabs by the house, a brick outbuilding on the right and an open timber shed at the far end. From one photo, it was redesigned as a white gravel garden: one straight path of large grey slabs runs to a small patio under a white pergola, deep borders of rock roses, lamb’s ears and white foxgloves line both fences, and the fences are stained sage green.

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After: the same plot as a white gravel garden, with one straight path of large grey slabs to a small patio under a white pergola, deep borders of white rock roses, lamb’s ears and white foxgloves along sage green fences, and agaves in terracotta pots
Before: the owner’s photo. After: the design drawn from it.
How it works

One photo of your garden, redrawn with a finished design

Shown with another design from the gallery. This Mediterranean gravel garden works the same way.

  1. A deep prairie border in a walled garden: purple salvia, orange geum, foxgloves, echinacea and lime green alchemilla spilling over a brick edge onto a lawn.The ideal design

    The garden you want

    A finished design from the gallery, with its planting and its materials.

  2. A different garden before any work: a plain rectangle of lawn between slatted timber fences, with a bench against a shed at the far end and two bare trees.Your garden

    Add your garden photo

    One picture of your garden that shows the whole plot.

  3. The same garden with that planting in it: a stone path winding to the same bench, echinacea, rudbeckia, liatris and grasses either side, the same fences, shed and trees kept.The result

    Your dream garden

    The same style of planting and the same materials, drawn around what was already there.

Transform My Garden like this First 3 designs free · no card · UK plantsOr start a design from scratch

This makeover at a glance

Style
Mediterranean gravel garden
Shape
Long and narrow, with a brick outbuilding by the house
Light
Full sun
Started as
Grey gravel, a grid of slabs and an open shed

Kept

  • The brick outbuilding
  • The fences
  • Next door’s trees and cordyline

Changed

  • A pergola on a patio
  • One slab path in white gravel
  • White and silver borders
  • Sage green fences, white planting
In the design

Four long garden ideas from this makeover

  1. A pergola on a patio, close up in the design
    An open shed at the end, the same spot beforeBefore

    An open shed at the end A pergola on a patio

    A white pergola on a new patio at the far end, as the place to walk to

    Where the open shed stood, the design lays a small patio of pale grey slabs and puts a white timber pergola over it, with a pot of agave either side. The patio gives the path a destination, with room for a seat under the pergola looking back down the whole length of the garden.

  2. One slab path in white gravel, close up in the design
    A grid of slabs in grey gravel, the same spot beforeBefore

    A grid of slabs in grey gravel One slab path in white gravel

    One straight path of large grey slabs, laid through white gravel

    The grid of slabs by the house and the grey gravel both go. In their place, one line of large grey slabs set in bright white gravel leads from the house to the pergola. The white gravel lifts the light in the whole plot, and one line of big slabs down the middle makes the walk to the far end the shape of the garden.

  3. White and silver borders, close up in the design
    Gravel to the fence, the same spot beforeBefore

    Gravel to the fence White and silver borders

    Deep borders of white flowers and silver leaves along both fences

    Rock roses and lamb’s ears fill the front, white daisies and lavender the middle, and white foxgloves stand at the back, with a white wisteria on the left fence and a stone bird bath in the left border. White flowers and silver leaves repeat along both borders, so the two read as one.

  4. Sage green fences, white planting, close up in the design
    Grey fences, bare brick, the same spot beforeBefore

    Grey fences, bare brick Sage green fences, white planting

    The fences stained sage green, and the brick outbuilding kept

    The fences stay and are stained a pale sage green, and the brick outbuilding by the house stays too, with white flowers and silver leaves at its foot. A pale fence colour gives the long boundaries a soft backdrop, and every white flower in front of them shows.

Before: a long narrow garden of grey gravel seen from an upstairs window, with a grid of pale slabs near the house, a red brick outbuilding on the right and an open timber shed at the far end
Before: the owner’s photo.
Before

A long plot of grey gravel, with a grid of slabs and an open shed at the end

Grey gravel from the house to the far fence, a grid of pale slabs laid in it near the house, a red brick outbuilding on the right with its own window and door, and an open timber shed across the far end. Next door’s trees and a cordyline stand above the fences.

The design keeps the brick outbuilding and the fences where they were, and takes out the grey gravel, the slab grid and the open shed.

In the borders

White foxgloves, rock roses and lamb’s ears: the planting

All of them chosen for a plot in full sun.

  1. Rock rosesWhite flowers through the front and middle of both borders
  2. Lamb’s earsWoolly silver leaves at the front of the borders
  3. White foxglovesHeight at the back
  4. LavenderWhite flowered here, in the middle of the borders
  5. White daisiesLow drifts at the front
  6. Silver ragwortGrey, felted leaves for texture through the borders
  7. AgavesIn terracotta pots beside the path
  8. White wisteriaOn the left fence

With Pro, every design you make names every plant in it, how big each one grows, where it goes and when it flowers, so you know what to look for at the garden centre.

What you get

What comes back from one photo of your garden

  • Redesigned around your fences and trees. About two minutes after you add your photo, in the same style and materials as this garden.
  • Planting matched to your light and soil. Add your light and soil if you know them, and the planting follows them.
  • Every plant named, with Pro or Max. Pro is one payment: £29 for 20 designs over 14 days, two at once; Max, £49 for 50 over 30 days, four at once. Every one names its plants, how big each grows, where it goes and when it flowers.
  • Built by a professional gardener. Real plants that grow in UK gardens.
Transform My Garden like this First 3 designs free · no card · UK plantsOr start a design from scratch
Questions

Questions about this long garden design

Does a straight path make a long garden feel longer?

It draws the eye to the far end, which is the point here: the pergola gives the path somewhere to go, and the deep borders either side give the plot width.

Can a long garden work without a lawn?

Yes. This one had no lawn to start with, and the design keeps it that way: white gravel as the ground, a slab path through it and deep borders on both sides.

How much does a garden makeover design like this cost?

Your first 3 garden designs are free, no card required. After that, Pro is one payment: £29 for 20 designs over 14 days, two at once; Max, £49 for 50 over 30 days, four at once, every plant named in every one, and clean pictures to keep.

Is the after picture a real garden?

The before is the owner’s own photo. The after is the design Garden Design App drew from it, using real plants you can buy in the UK.

Keep reading

More before and after garden makeovers

After: the same strip as a planted courtyard, with a paved path through deep borders of lavender, purple salvias, coneflowers and grasses to a small table and chairs
Part sun · narrow plot

Wildlife garden makeover

A narrow strip of lawn, redesigned as a paved path between deep borders of lavender and salvias.

After: the same plot with a brick and stone path curving to the shed between deep borders of roses, delphiniums, lupins, foxgloves and peonies, with terracotta urns at the top of the path
Full sun · fenced plot

Cottage garden makeover

A bare, straw coloured lawn and a deck crowded with pots, redesigned as deep borders of roses, delphiniums and lupins.

After: the same garden as a Mediterranean gravel garden, with pale gravel, flagstone stepping stones, clipped olive trees in terracotta pots, drifts of lavender and a timber arch
Full sun · acid soil

Mediterranean garden makeover

A rectangle of lawn, redesigned as pale gravel, olive trees and drifts of lavender.

After: the same garden with an irregular stone path winding through grasses, white anemones, foxgloves and peonies to the chairs at the far end
Shade · town garden

Small town garden makeover

Long grass and a hosepipe in a shaded town garden, redesigned as a winding path through grasses and shade planting.

After: the same passage with a stone flag path running through deep shade planting of ferns, hostas, foxgloves, periwinkle and a Japanese maple against the fence
Deep shade · narrow run

Shady side passage makeover

The bit down the side where the bins live, redesigned as a shaded path of ferns, hostas and foxgloves.

After: the same yard with pale limestone paving, a curved lawn edged in brick and deep borders of catmint, salvias, coneflowers and climbing roses
Full sun · clay soil

Modern garden makeover

Slabs, bare soil and a blank brick gable, redesigned as curved lawn and deep planted borders.

After: the same plot as a meadow garden, with a stepping stone path through deep borders of purple salvias, crimson scabious, pink coneflowers and grasses, wisteria and clematis on the fence beneath the gable, and the deck edged with lavender
Part sun · clay

New build garden makeover

A rectangle of new turf beside a blank gable, redesigned as a meadow of salvias and scabious, with climbers on the fence and the shed.

After: the same plot as a cottage garden, the lawn replaced by beds of delphiniums, foxgloves and roses either side of a stepping stone path to a metal bench, climbing roses on the side fences, catmint at the foot of the wall, a terracotta pot on the step and thyme in the joints of the patio
Part sun

Tiered garden makeover

A slab patio, a step and a raised lawn, redesigned as a cottage garden with roses on the fences for privacy and a bench at the top.

After: the same plot as a cottage garden, an oak framed gazebo with a slate roof where the summerhouse was, a teak table and chairs under it, a gravel path through lavender and catmint, borders of pink roses, blue delphiniums and silver lamb’s ears on both sides, clematis and roses on the black fence either side of the gazebo
Full sun · dry

Gazebo garden makeover

A lawn gone brown and dry and an old summerhouse, redesigned as a cottage garden with an oak gazebo and a gravel path through lavender.

After: the same view with the pergola in full wisteria flower over the deck, a lawn with curved edges and deep borders of foxgloves, mullein, geum, catmint and black eyed Susans, a path of sandstone slabs through gravel to a small sandstone patio with a bistro table and two chairs to the right of the lawn, and the brick walls and back shrubs where they were
Full sun

Wisteria pergola garden makeover

A patchy lawn under a wisteria pergola, redesigned as a curved lawn with deep borders for bees and a sandstone patio to the right of the lawn.

After: the same view with a path of grey and buff stone laid in herringbone curving down the middle to the foot of the spiral staircase, borders of Mexican feather grass, Japanese forest grass, blue fescue and heuchera on both sides with blue delphiniums and purple top verbena rising through them, lavender beside the path, lilac clematis and pale climbing roses on the fences, and the staircase, the brick house and the shrub where they were
Part sun · clay

Urban garden makeover

A narrow strip of artificial grass under a spiral staircase, redesigned as a curved herringbone path through borders of grasses and perennials.

After: the same view with paths of pale gravel winding out from the patio between drifts of purple salvias, lavender, pink coneflowers and yellow black eyed Susans, a small pond with a pebble edge and a stepping stone on the right, an untreated oak bench against the back fence, the fences stained a warm brown behind blue Californian lilac and orange firethorn, and the tree, the conifer and the patio where they were
Full sun · clay

Wildlife pond garden makeover

A wide lawn scorched brown, redesigned as a gravel garden with a small pebble edged pond, drifts for bees and an oak bench at the far end.

After: the design drawn from the patio edge, with a winding path of buff gravel held by low stone edging, deep borders on both sides of pink and white roses, astrantia, catmint, white foxgloves, blue delphiniums, sea holly, white brunnera and lady’s mantle, a white clematis over the trellis on the left, the yew where it was, the fences stained a warm brown and a weathered teak bench under the trees at the far end.
Full sun · acid

Winding path garden makeover

A lawn beside a patio, redesigned as a winding gravel path with low stone edging through deep borders of roses and catmint, to a bench under the trees.

After: a design drawn from the owner’s photo, with large grey slabs laid at an angle with dark pebbles between them, curved beds edged in metal holding New Zealand flax, agave, yucca, purple salvias, orange geum, white gaura and Mexican daisies, the fences stained charcoal with star jasmine on the right one, an L of teak seating built round a gas fire pit in the back corner, an olive tree in a tall planter beside it, the boarded wall and the potted shrub where they were, and the neighbours’ brick houses and roofs beyond.
Light and soil not recorded

Fire pit garden makeover

A lawn gone brown between a boarded wall and a fence, redesigned as a paved garden with slabs floating in pebbles, architectural planting and teak seating built round a fire pit.

After: the same garden drawn as a cottage garden, a flagstone path down the left, a circular lawn in the middle, deep borders of blue delphiniums, pink and white foxgloves, purple hardy geraniums, pink and peach roses, catmint and box balls, espalier fruit trees on the wall at the back, a timber arch, oak table and chairs on pea gravel at the far end, and roses and lilac clematis on the warm stained fence.
Full sun (the design’s notes) · soil not recorded

Cottage garden plan makeover

A lawn beside a concrete path, redesigned as an English cottage garden: a circular lawn in deep borders, a flagstone path, espaliers on the wall and oak seating on gravel at the end.

Transform My Garden like this