Shobhana Tyroller: home, atelier and estate garden, Majorca

Artist Shobhana Tyroller, Belgium born but a Majorcan resident, started her estate 
garden over 20 years ago, when the family bought the "finca" near Santanyí.  
The area is an example of a Mediterranean landscape where you have to be very 
careful with the use of natives and/or adapted species, and highly concerned
with the management of water.

From the beginning she was determined to design her garden working with nature and
understanding the conditions and necessities of the area and using as much as possible
the original vegetation with touche of design.  After some years dedicated to planting,
she started to let nature work on its own pace.

The good design has paid off and now the gardens do not require hard work but, just 

some seasonal care, using ecological methods and what is most important, no watering 

at all.  The owner is very concern with inspiring others to garden in a sustainable way.

From some angles the house looks like a fortress surrounded by vegetation that also 
helps fighting the long hot summers.  Along the years she has tried different 
designs and plants and introduced some new specimens that have proved they were  
good choices. Landscape is defined in sections and areas divided by stone walls, 
green islands or flowering bushes.

One of the great surprises of the house is the pavilion with the owner's studio, that 
houses her patchwork atelier and painting workshop.

The home is also a showcase for a collection of Shobhana's and daughter Anjali's work.

Near the house, some areas where planned to offer shade and protection from the 
sun in summer days,but also work as perfect spots to enjoy alfresco dinners.

The home is organized by juxtaposition of several buildings and interconnected and respecting traditional architecture that tries to mimic colors of the land.

We can find many details of the artist's personality in the house and gardens.

Mediterranean garden hotel in winter

During past holidays and when visiting part of the family in the South of Spain I was
 invited to this wonderful place called Casa de los Bates for an afternoon tea. It was 
built in the nineteenth century as an estate and with Italian inspiration, it was meant 
to be the home for a family.

The hotel is located in a hill overlooking the Mediterranean tropical coast of Granada, 

and has been restored to maintain its origins.  Time past and the building and gardens 

were transformed into a boutique rural hotel, and is run by some members of my 

in-law family, which were very happy to show us around. 

The gardens surrounding the house show also the moorish influence both in their 

design and use of plants and trees to organize the different sections. Fountains and 

water features help creating relaxing cool areas, as a refuge in hot summer days. 

It was a very mild weather on the first day of the new year, so we had an afternoon 
tea and pastries seating by the front porch area.

A Chelsea Fringe event at Oxford House, London

The Chelsea Fringe is the “alternative gardening festival” parallel to

the Chelsea Garden Show, happening in different cities until June 8th, 

featuring a great diversity of events.  

One of them was the presentation of the project 

‘Where the Wild things Grow’,with journalist Alys Fowler,

painter and photographer Lynn Keddie 

and the photographer Paul Debois in collaboration with Oh!,

to document and celebrate the ordinary everyday weed or wildling in the urban context.

It was a great pleasure to have a walk in Weavers Fields Park, 

with journalist and author Alys Fowler who talked about foraging 

and wildling in urban parks and how to discover and benefit 

and of abundance in urban contexts. 

The closing of the event was with the opening of the exhibition

 of photographies and paintings and a taste food and drinks prepared 

by Urban Harvest, that offered recipes created with foraged food.

They were really delicious!!!

Green roofs in Antwerp

 Designing greener cities is also deciding wether incorporating vegetation in 

and on top floors of buildings. 

The roof of this building was finished with a garden of trees, bushes, and covering 

climbers that provide shadow and help refreshing the arbor in the summer, creating a 

sort of small green park on the roof: a perfect area for socializing and enjoy nature.

Another benefit of installing green roof tops is that they also contribute to cool the apartments below.  A “green” cover with vegetation on the roof helps to prevent transmitting the excess heat from outside to inside the building, by absorbing part 

of the sun’s radiation.  Friendly in every way.

In picture above, you can see when someone does really like trees.  The space on 

the terraces of the apartments is considerably small, but if the feeling of having 

trees around is so important, there is always a wise solution. Owners here found a 

way to incorporate semi-mature olive trees in their terraced-garden.