What a surprise! As soon as you enter the property, you are almost in the living garden area. The reason: this area is a bit cramped, with various functions overlapping. When the villa was built almost 150 years ago, the plot conditions were different. The owner at the time was a landscape gardener and had an elongated plot of land behind the building. Since then, the owners have changed several times, and during the GDR era, the KGB came and went here. In 1994, after the Soviets had left, new life was breathed into Potsdam. The current owners fell in love with this special ambience six years ago, but now only the area between the house and the street can be used as a garden. The car parking space is located behind the building with the actual entrance to the house. This restriction had to be accepted because the location of the property was ideal for the family of five. "But I would like a beautiful, newly designed garden," was the urgent request of the new landlady.

Landscape architect Ulrich Timm was quickly commissioned to draw up a master plan to explore the possibilities of the site. The available area was barely more than 10 x 10 meters. What was wanted was a large terrace area, a sandstone fountain like those still found in older Potsdam gardens - and a sense of security. The garden included a dominant yew (Taxus baccata) as a solitary tree and a privet hedge on the street side and the neighboring grounds to protect against prying eyes. It was important to the owner of the house that his home-grown bonsai trees were given a good location where they could be viewed in peace. The redesigned garden was to have modern features, but also incorporate the traditional architectural language. The façade of the old villa still has a clear message today: clever elegance and well-placed décor to give the building a distinctive look. An elegant staircase, which leads from the terrace on the Beletage to the front garden and is now surrounded by cream-colored balls of "Annabelle" hydrangea flowers, leads to the entrance area, which is also used as a driveway. To separate the gateway from the residential garden, the existing elliptical paving was partially removed, freeing up space for a double-row hedge. This was arranged in an elegant arch shape: a taller hornbeam hedge (Carpinus betulus) and a one-meter-high yew hedge (Taxus baccata) on the inside. This not only created a good separation between the entrance and the private residential garden, but also the ideal place for the fountain made of Silesian sandstone.

The centerpiece is the 4.50 x 4.50 m terrace made of Belgian bluestone with its pleasant hue. There is room here for the large family gathering, the barbecue and the bonsai ornaments. High-stemmed hornbeam box forms were added in front of the privacy hedge to create a sense of security and a beautiful sense of space in the small garden. In summer, two large oleander potted plants are a great eye-catcher. Plenty of technology has been used to ensure there is enough time to enjoy the garden. A robotic mower keeps the lawn short and the automatic irrigation system regulates the optimum moisture for the plants.

www.ulrichtimm.de

(Published in CUBE Berlin 01|20)