Graduate Landscapes — The Old Market Retirement Village, Wimbourne
Greenwood Plants provides instant impact and structural interest to new-build retirement village
Overview
In early 2024, Greenwood supplied plants to long standing clients Graduate Landscapes, for planting in a large new-build retirement village, based in Wimbourne, Dorset. The site, constructed by McCarthy and Stone, features a mix of apartments and bungalows, with a village garden, and state-of-the-art amenities, such as a homeowners’ lounge, a bistro, a beauty salon, and more. Surrounded by the Dorset countryside, the project is characterised by an abundance of soft landscaping, to help blend into its natural surroundings.
Client – Graduate Landscapes
Project – The Old Market Retirement Village
Location – Wimbourne, Dorset
The Brief
The aim of the project was to provide plants to bring instant impact to the newly constructed facilities, as well as planting long term, low maintenance plants. These will provide year-round interest, and help to create resilient green spaces which attract biodiversity and serve as a source of enjoyment to the residents.
Our Approach
To provide instant impact, spiral topiary trees were planted in pots either side of the main entrance doorway. This was coupled with additional topiary balls of Ilex crenata, which were planted either side of the main pathway, not only adding height to the central planting scheme, but also some structural interest. On top of this, phormiums were planted in the middle of the communal areas to provide some upright growth, and to give the plan an ornamental feel.
Along the main pathway, within the borders, Persicaria affinis ‘D. Don’ was planted, which provides long spikes of pink and white flowers in summer, as well as Heuchera ‘Plum Pudding’, which gives a nice colour contrast with its large purple foliage, and flower spikes in summer. For elevation and structure, Nandina domestica ‘Firepower’ was planted behind, providing year-round colour with its autumnal shades of orange and red foliage. Mahonia ‘Soft Caress’ brings year-round colour with its summer to autumn yellow flowers, that are followed by berries. Many varieties of Viburnum were planted, including Viburnum tinus ‘Eve Price’ that produces clusters of pink-white flowers in winter, as well as Viburnum davidii and Viburnum opulus, that produce winter berries and spring flowers.
Hedges were created with plants such as Osmanthus × burkwoodii, which produces flowers in spring, along with autumn berries, and Taxus baccata, a bushy shrub which boasts flowers and berries in the same seasons. The dense growth habit of these hedges makes for an effective screening option, and has been placed in front of the residences to provide privacy for the future inhabitants. Other hedging plants used include Crataegus monogyna, which is a deciduous shrub or small tree, producing edible red berries in autumn, as well as Elaeagnus × ebbingei, which is a versatile evergreen shrub, flowering late into the year.
For trees, Cornus kousa ‘Chinensis’ and Acer palmatum ‘Osakazuki’ were planted, which are small to medium varieties, that provide year-round colour and interest to a planting scheme.
Other varieties planted of note include Photinia × fraseri ‘Red Robin’, which produces shoots of new foliage that initially appear red, before turning green as they mature. This shrub not only provides structure to the project, but a splash of year-round colour as well. In addition, Lavandula angustifolia ‘Hidcote’ was used to provide aromatic border coverage, with shoots of purple flowers in summer and year-round foliage with a sweet scent, providing visual interest and a sensory element to the residents.
The Result
Overall, the project has been a major success. Not only have the plants provided an instant impact, such as Phormium and the container grown topiary spirals giving the project an immediate visual interest, but many hardy, long term options being chosen will ensure the green spaces of the retirement village will continue to thrive for years to come. Graduate Landscapes Commercial Estimator Patrick McTernan said “This project had some complicated elements, such as a high level of quality control, scarce varieties and large call offs which required delivery on trolleys. Greenwood overcame these obstacles with ease and played a massive part in the successful delivery of the scheme. I would like to thank Claire, Charlie, Dan, Lucy and the rest of the team for their exceptional work on this project – they continually went above and beyond as usual.”
For your next soft landscaping project, get in touch with the G Team today.
