Inside a Lush London Garden Transformation: How Urquhart & Hunt Created a Biodiverse Sanctuary for Modern Living
In the realm of high-end residential design, few elements command attention, spark emotional engagement, and deliver lasting environmental value quite like a truly exceptional garden. As luxury homeowners increasingly prioritize sustainability, year-round beauty, and biodiversity, outdoor spaces have evolved into living artworks—extensions of lifestyle that rival the interiors they adjoin. Nowhere is this more apparent than in a remarkable garden transformation in southwest London, where acclaimed landscape designers Lulu Urquhart and Adam Hunt have rewritten the script on what a modern, ecologically rich urban garden can achieve. Set behind a grand Victorian residence in one of London’s most desirable postcodes, the garden serves not just as a private oasis but as a masterclass in how high-net-worth individuals can marry landscape architecture with climate responsibility, visual sophistication, and premium lifestyle amenities.
The transformation began with a challenge familiar to many luxury homeowners seeking to modernize period properties—how to optimize living space while preserving outdoor connection. The home underwent a major renovation, including the installation of a sleek glazed extension and a subterranean level of rooms, dramatically reducing available garden space to a modest 28 by 14 meters. For less experienced designers, this might have constrained the creative potential. But Urquhart & Hunt saw an opportunity to bring depth, narrative, and rich sensory immersion into a confined footprint. The result is a space that feels expansive, wild, and intimate all at once—a biodiverse garden that enhances property value, supports pollinators, and brings rare botanical drama to everyday life.
Behind the rear wall of the property lies a mature public park—an unusual and highly prized backdrop for an urban London garden. The design response to this unique asset was strategic and poetic: to visually and biologically link the private garden to the established woodland canopy beyond. Rather than screen off the neighboring treescape, the garden invites it in through careful plant selection and spatial rhythm. Two majestic magnolia trees were retained to frame the journey to a concealed rear gate, offering seasonal flowering spectacles and anchoring the visual connection to the mature forest. A tall olive tree, preserved as a living privacy screen, further stitches the garden into its surroundings while preserving the valuable fungal networks—mycorrhizae—that support soil health and plant vitality.
Tree selection, a crucial component in high-end garden design, was executed with particular finesse. The introduction of two Amelanchier lamarkii provided delicate spring blossoms and berry-rich food sources for birds, while an Acer palmatum ‘Sango-kaku’—chosen for its elegantly leaning form—added architectural interest and fiery autumn color. Most striking, however, is the Zelkova serrata ‘Flekova’, known for its burnished fall foliage and upright, vase-like silhouette. Its planting hole was amended with biochar, a technique increasingly favored in regenerative landscaping for its capacity to boost fungal colonization, improve water retention, and sequester carbon—appealing to sustainability-conscious homeowners and climate-resilient real estate investors alike.
The sense of movement and visual depth within the garden is achieved through skillful layering and mounding. Excavated soil from the subterranean renovations was ingeniously reused to sculpt new planting borders, reducing construction waste while elevating portions of the landscape for drama and drainage. A generous 10cm of imported, nutrient-rich soil capped these mounds, setting the stage for a veritable theatre of perennial and ornamental grasses. Flowing across two-thirds of the garden’s surface, the largest of these borders cradles a sunken terrace in a verdant embrace, blooming to peak display in late summer with a combination of spires, umbels, and dome-shaped yews that evoke classical symmetry amidst wild abundance.
Among the standout plantings are Foeniculum vulgare ‘Purpureum’ with its bronze, lacy foliage; the deep red spikes of Lobelia tupa; the striking verticality of Veronicastrum virginicum; and the fragrant, bee-friendly Agastache ‘Blackadder’. These are joined by the light-catching plumes of Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea ‘Transparent’, a cultivar celebrated in modern landscape architecture for its subtle motion in the breeze and golden hues in autumn. Together, they create a visual crescendo that contrasts beautifully with the strong architectural lines of the home’s glass extension—bringing movement, color, and natural rhythm into direct dialogue with clean contemporary design.
What makes this garden so luxurious is not simply its plant palette or clever layout, but the way it creates sensory experiences from every angle and across all seasons. From the indoor dining area, a large potted Ficus lyrata echoes the outdoor foliage and offers a verdant link between interior and exterior spaces. Beyond, glazed doors open onto a garden that gradually reveals itself, encouraging movement and exploration. A curved gravel path winds past layers of plantings—some repeated, some new—guiding the eye and the feet toward an open lawn used for play and leisure. Here, the family’s children can run free in a setting that is both secure and stimulating, an important consideration for affluent families balancing lifestyle and legacy.
Further along, a secondary gravel terrace catches the golden rays of evening sun, a private nook designed for cocktails, quiet reflection, or informal entertaining. The view from this point back to the house is perhaps the most rewarding, as it captures the interplay of layered perennials, rich textural grasses, and sculptural trees in a single, panoramic frame. Among the highlights are the stately Digitalis ferruginea, the vivid Lobelia x speciosa ‘Vedrariensis’, and the sweetly scented Sporobolus heterolepis—each contributing to a rich habitat that prioritizes both visual delight and environmental stewardship.
Toward the garden’s shadier perimeter, under the protective boughs of the existing magnolias and newly added trees, a different atmosphere takes hold. Here, the palette shifts to embrace shade-loving species—many of them rare, botanical collector’s plants that speak to the garden’s quietly intellectual character. Disporum viridescens, with its graceful arching stems; Persicaria filiformis ‘Lance Corporal’, prized for its camouflaged foliage; and the luminous blooms of Uvularia grandiflora var. pallida all thrive in these cool corners. Maianthemum stellatum adds a woodland softness, and the fragrant Cercidiphyllum japonicum, planted along the back wall, scents the autumn air with notes of caramel as its heart-shaped leaves turn golden and fall.
It’s hard to overstate the biodiversity of this compact yet richly layered garden. With more than 200 varieties of perennials, climbers, and annuals—totaling over 4,000 individual plants—plus 5,000 bulbs from 60 carefully selected species, the garden offers nonstop interest and ecological function throughout the year. From early spring snowdrops, crocuses, and Iris reticulata, to late-season dahlias and asters, pollinating insects enjoy an uninterrupted banquet. Birds, too, benefit from the considered design, especially in the shrub and understory layers where they find ample nesting sites and winter food sources. The Amelanchiers, in particular, provide both nectar-rich flowers and edible berries that attract waxwings and finches during the lean summer-to-autumn transition.
The maintenance philosophy behind the garden aligns with the best practices in luxury sustainable gardening. Seasonal mulching and worm compost applications have become routine, supporting soil fertility and minimizing the need for synthetic fertilizers. Initially, the harsh 2022 drought necessitated a temporary irrigation system, but the garden is now predominantly self-sustaining. Spot watering is reserved for new additions, with the rest of the landscape drawing on the deep water-holding capacity of its enhanced soil layers. This approach not only aligns with climate-resilient landscaping principles but also appeals to environmentally conscious homeowners and property developers looking to reduce operational costs and increase long-term asset value.
What makes this garden truly exceptional is the seamless integration of ecological intelligence, artistic expression, and functional luxury. It is not a showcase of excess but of intention—a garden designed not just to impress but to endure. For homeowners with the means and the mindset to invest in premium outdoor living, it offers a model of what’s possible when design, horticulture, and environmental ethics intersect.
In today’s high-stakes real estate market, where discerning buyers demand both beauty and sustainability, a garden like this is more than just an amenity—it’s a statement. It signifies a commitment to quality, a reverence for nature, and a belief that true luxury lies not in domination of the land, but in partnership with it. As outdoor spaces become increasingly central to wellness, entertainment, and property valuation, forward-thinking landscape architecture of this caliber offers a blueprint for the future of affluent living.
From a financial perspective, luxury gardens that emphasize biodiversity, climate resilience, and low-maintenance design have proven to boost property value, reduce energy consumption, and enhance buyer appeal—particularly in competitive markets like London, New York, and Los Angeles. Keywords such as “sustainable landscape architecture,” “biodiverse garden design,” “luxury outdoor living,” “eco-conscious gardening,” and “climate-resilient landscaping” are not just buzzwords—they’re high-CPC terms that reflect real consumer interest and digital monetization potential. As interest in green infrastructure, wellness-focused living, and regenerative design continues to grow, gardens like this one by Urquhart & Hunt offer inspiration and instruction in equal measure.
For the discerning homeowner, investor, or designer, this garden is more than just a story of plants—it’s a living, breathing argument for what twenty-first century luxury should look like. Rooted in science, elevated by design, and driven by a profound respect for nature, it speaks to the values of a new generation of elites who see their homes not just as places of comfort, but as ecosystems of purpose, pleasure, and legacy.