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See how this wild flower meadow has come on

Madly busy here lately but all good. I’ve been dashing about meeting new clients & dropping in to sites to see how they are all going. Well! is the answer – all looking great & everybody is happy. This is a project built last year & this is the wild flower meadow linking the house to the walled kitchen garden. It is looking fantastic & we’re all delighted – amazing the difference from when it was seeded & looked very bare indeed! The trees within it are mature fruit trees from an old orchard. They are a mix of pear …

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A front garden being created

There’s a lot going on at the moment. I have several schemes being built & quite few on my drawing board too. It’s all quite exciting particularly as they are all quite different. My client took these photo’s & sent them to me yesterday. She is delighted & so are we. I am back on site on Friday & looking forward to seeing further progress. This is part of a very large scheme that has taken a while to get under way due to several things – one being awaiting the house completion! A row of mature elm trees are …

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We’re in Homes & Gardens Magazine!

One of my gardens that I’ve written about quite a lot here is currently featuring as a 6 page spread in the May edition of Homes & Gardens Magazine. It is not entirely unexpected as the photographer took photos last summer but it was due to be featured in the June edition so we’re all delighted but a little surprised. Here’s a sneak preview… The article focusses on the natural aspects of the garden as Jane is a huge nature lover. The wild flower meadows are by Rob Jones as he’s the expert there – I do structures & layouts. …

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All change!

This is the lovely purple garden around the Breeze House at my client Jane’s garden. It was one of the first things I designed for her some years ago now & it’s been one of my personal favourite areas. I’d used the purple berberis ‘nana’ successfully before instead of box edging & here I used it to link with the Acers to tie the whole thing together. Indeed it was much admired last year at the open day. The largest Acer is original & we added more to complement it & settle the Breeze House into the area. Rather like …

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March news

Guess what is going on here? This woodland garden is being improved to house hedgehogs & lots of beneficial insects. Nothing to do with me this time – I’m no expert on bugs I’m afraid but Rob is & his team are creating very stylish & enticing homes for beneficial & sometimes undervalued critters to live in as natural pest control. The wood is already home to some hedgehogs amongst other creatures who enjoy the eco hedges the team have built – see above. All this stylish accommodation has been created from waste on site so it is exceedingly good …

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New year news

Wishing you a chilly but Happy New Year to all! This header photo was taken in France where I spent my Christmas break. I’m not a huge fan of freezing temperatures but it does make everything so beautiful! Thanks so much to my lovely clients for the wonderful opportunities & challenges you have given me over the past 12 months. I had my best year ever last year with an array of fascinating projects of all sizes & this year sees more to come. I will try to keep you up to date but I’m usually so busy working I …

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NGS – Here’s one we did earlier…

Last Week the garden titled ‘Orchard House’ on my portfolio page opened to the public for the afternoon under the National Open Gardens scheme for charity. The forecast was very grim indeed so all were prepared for storms but thankfully the sun shone & the garden looked beautiful. Here’s Rob looking very happy on the boardwalk through the bog garden. This was originally an area that had been pushed to one side as it was a bit of a nuisance with springs popping up from time to time & often being very muddy indeed. We got on with the rest …

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Roof trees – a favourite!

I first saw these gorgeous trees in 2010 in Tuscany at the wonderful Vannucci site. I was there with Rob Jones of The Garden Design Co buying trees for a project. We were shown around their vast & splendid site in buggies in scorching sunshine & were completely blown away by what we saw. The photo heading this blog was taken then – note the lovely blue sky. Going to tree nurseries is always a pleasure, even in the pouring rain & hail, as we did very recently in Hampshire. Shortly after I took the photo above the heavens opened …

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A new garden for a barn conversion

I love doing small gardens as they are very satisfying. They are relatively quick to build (I often design very large estates which are implemented over several years in some cases) & the before & after shots are always amazing. With small gardens everything counts & the whole scheme must work throughout the seasons, day & night, back to front & so on. This counts for all gardens of course but more so here as nothing is hidden; I don’t do mini wild flower meadows for example as I don’t believe a small garden can afford such temporary beauty. I …

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A sneak preview

I’ve a contemporary scheme currently being built by Tom & his great crew that I’m so delighted with I thought I’d share. It’s a long garden that used to have virtually nothing but lawn & my scheme divides the space into interesting defined segments. Sketches are above & at the top. Below is how it was. As you can see there really wasn’t a great deal of interest, but for me a blank canvas is a brilliant start. I really wanted to break the space up into interesting chunks & give it a personality. My clients love contemporary & wanted …

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