Festive Winter Containers

Christmas is here, and people are busy decorating their christmas trees and decking their halls, but don’t forget your garden.  A festive styled plant container in a position near a door or viewed from a window really cheers up a garden. At plant nurseries and...

Design Ideas – inspiration or sweat?

Design ideas come from everywhere and everything, sometimes you immerse yourself in an idea, work at it and develop it, then it sits in the back of your mind and simmers slowly. I find the ‘simmering time’ vital as  you take the idea, push and pull it...

Geums – stalwarts of the flower border…

Geums have been one of the talked about plants at Chelsea in the last few years – the orange coloured ‘Prinses Juliana’ (height 60cm, spread 50cm), flowers May – July, and ‘Totally Tangerine’ (height 75cm, spread 50cm) flowers April...

Top Garden Trends for 2015

In the world of fashion for Spring 2015, navy is the ‘new black’, the pattern is gingham and the style of jacket is ‘kimono cool’. A couple of months ago I brought a kimono style jacket for a change and I am delighted to be ‘kimono...

Gardens to visit….

People ask me, “Do you enjoy visiting gardens when you are on holiday?” The answer is definitely “yes”.  I can enjoy them as a visitor without the worry of designing them, or worrying how the planting is doing and in this hot weather, are the...

A Woodland Garden – final phase – soft landscaping….

The final phase of landscaping is the installation of a paved circle for a sitting area, lawn and plant bed preparation.  Soil preparation is the key to good strong plant growth.  The plant bed area is cleared of unwanted vegetation and bricks, concrete, stones etc...