Autumn gives us the excuse to pause and savour our garden and outdoor spaces
Beyond the unrelenting heat of Summer, Autumn give us an opportunity to savour the sights, smells and lushness in our garden that comes with a change in the weather.
Injecting new energy into borders for a public opening
This Little Missenden planting design revitalised deep herbaceous borders using structured, repeat planting, strong colour and form, and foliage contrast. Designed for a National Garden Scheme garden open to the public, the scheme introduced seasonal colour, cohesion and movement, creating vibrant borders with year-round interest and improved visual impact
Out with the old (overbearing evergreens)
My clients wanted to escape the gloom of overbearing evergreens and old trees in their tired garden and instead introduce more manageable planting and a wow factor in their borders. With full-time jobs and boisterous dogs, the clients needed planting that was low maintenance, and fairly resilient. The planting plans focused on repeating smaller trees […]
Raised bed planting in a family garden
Katherine was keen to build some raised beds to create planting zones around a new seating area and focal points to be viewed from inside the house. I helped her to determine the layout of the raised beds and then created a planting design sketch to link the borders, with ideas for plant combinations. She […]
Guided gardening – plant shopping
Plant Shopping With Clients For many people a regular garden centre can be a bewildering place, in which it is tempting to spend a lot of money! Many of my clients have random plants dotted around their gardens as a result of spur of the moment purchasing. Sometimes they are purchased without really knowing where […]
Soggy Garden Making You Feel Underwhelmed?
Feeling underwhelmed by your soggy garden this autumn and wondering where to start with a re-design? The good news is…now is the best time to plan.
Work in progress for a colourful, year-round family space
A year-round family space with lots of colourful, seasonal interest, with a design masterplan to develop over time alongside future building works
The Great Outdoors – weekend walk inspiration
An article published in Bovingdons property magazine – by Emma Hanford Gardens are suddenly the place to be at home. As a nation we’re spending more time than ever outside, but when there are so many garden styles, features and plants to choose from, where do you go for ideas to create your own private […]
A bold front garden
Designing a simple, eye-catching front garden which combines summer colour with year-round structure and screening.
Modernising a narrow plot
This garden sat on a narrow plot which was dated and overcrowded with uninteresting evergreens. It needed defined areas to lead the eye and lighter screening. To keep on budget and allow for interesting planting, we kept the original patio and some fencing but by introducing new seating areas and interesting lighting the garden was […]