Garden Design in Andratx and Port d’Andratx

The south-west sets problems the rest of the island does not. Steep slopes over bare rock, very little soil, wind — and near the water, salt in the air that burns off new growth overnight. A garden that works in Santanyí does not transfer to Port d’Andratx unexamined.

This page sets out what we consider decisive in that setting. We design and build across the island from our studio in Santanyí, and we will tell you beforehand what is possible on your plot and what is not.

The slope is the project

In Andratx, Camp de Mar and Port d’Andratx the houses sit on the hillside, often with the better part of the plot below the terrace. Before anyone talks about plants, the ground has to be resolved: where it is retained, where it is terraced, where it stays steep and is simply planted.

We do it with what the island has used for centuries: dry stone walls in natural stone. They hold the ground, store warmth for the night, and look better after ten years than on the first day. Where height has to be taken, we set solid block steps rather than pouring a staircase.

Salt and wind

This is where most gardens near the water fail. Salt-laden air scorches leaf margins, and exposed wind dries a plant faster than any irrigation can replace.

The answer is not more water but the right species. In exposed positions we work with plants that belong on a coast: Pistacia lentiscus, Juniperus phoenicea, Tamarix, Atriplex halimus, Westringia fruticosa, Limonium, with rosemary, olive and dwarf fan palm. Anything more delicate goes into the lee of a wall or the house — not on the edge.

The view is the most valuable thing on the plot

In Port d’Andratx you are paying for the view. A garden must not build it out, and that is a design decision rather than a maintenance one.

In practice: low planting along the sight line to the sea, height on the flanks where it screens the neighbour rather than the bay. And at least one place in the garden that is not the terrace, from which the same view reads differently — usually lower down, and quieter.

What can actually be built there

The south-west has a practical side that many owners discover only during the works: narrow access, steep ramps, nowhere to unload. Whether an old olive can go in a particular spot is decided not by the drawing but by whether the crane can reach it.

We establish that before the design, not after. It saves you a scheme that is handsome on paper and unbuildable on your land.

Pines, and what happens underneath them

Many plots in the municipality back onto pine woodland. It gives shade and scent — and it brings two things worth thinking about.

First, very little grows under an Aleppo pine. The ground is dry, acidic and full of needles. We plant it with what belongs there rather than fighting it.

Second, and more important: after the fires of recent years in the Serra, it is simply sensible to keep a zone around the house clear of anything that accumulates dry material — no heaped bark mulch, no brushwood, no juniper pushed tight against the façade. It can be resolved in the design without the garden looking stripped.

Water

On thin soil over rock the ground holds almost nothing. Without build-up and cover, water runs off or evaporates before the root sees it.

We build up the soil at the planting positions, cover with almond shell, and dose through drip irrigation plant by plant, on separate circuits for different requirements. Where the island stands on water overall, and what some town halls already prohibit, is set out under water and gardens in Mallorca.

How we work

We look at the site before drawing anything. After that you get a scheme with a planting plan, the solution for the ground, the irrigation and a programme — and the work carried out by our own team.

For an overview see garden design in Mallorca, for villa plots our page on villa gardens, and for paths, steps and walls, Mallorcan natural stone.

Let us look at your plot in Andratx

Andratx, Port d’Andratx, Camp de Mar, Sant Elm, s’Arracó. We will come and look at the slope, the wind and the view, and tell you what will grow there. J&P Design, landscape architects in Mallorca since 2008.