The photo above of a recent client’s garden is a great example of how we should always draw in neighbouring features and The perfect borrowed view. The garden pictured above had a large established overhanging Norway maple.This deciduous broad leafed tree is a fantastic tree for a garden and is brilliant for wildlife. A number of moth caterpillars feed on the leaves, while the flowers provide pollen for bees and other pollinators, and the bird and small mammals eat the seeds.From the offset, we decided that this beautiful specimen would be integral to our garden design, and that it would
Read MoreA ‘borrowed view’ is a classic garden design technique and is not to be underestimated. Within a design, we can include the wider view seen in the distance, as well as features such as large trees within neighbouring gardens, and include them within the overall design. A garden design should always be set within its own landscape, taking inspiration from the natural flora and fauna. Taking note of the local trees, types of plants that flourish and natural landscape materials is a huge consideration with playing with a design. The beauty of a ‘borrowed landscape’ is that it extends your view and can make an
Read MoreThe Award wins for RHS Bridgewater welcome building has won a prestigious RIBA architecture award – North West Building of the Year. This is very well deserved news as it really is a beautiful design, housing a café, gift shop and plant centre. The gardens themselves have been hugely popular as the first RHS garden to be created in an urban area. I also noticed that there was recent news of the new National Trust ‘skyline’ garden being created on a viaduct in the Castlefield area of Manchester. Work begun in March and the garden bridge is due to open this summer. Bringing high quality
Read MoreCould there be a more British combo than planting lavender and sunflowers. Not necessarily together – but they are both classic garden plants that are easy to grow and bring us huge amounts of pleasure. Now the RSPB has launched a campaign for homeowners to plant more of these plants in order to help reverse the decline of common garden species, such as starlings and bumblebees. The organisation says that starling numbers have fallen by two thirds since the 1970s, while populations of half of bumblebee species falling. The RSBP wants people to plant flowers that produce seeds/ nectar that are loved by birds
Read MoreWhen it comes to garden design, planning should take place during the colder months to allow the greatest reward in terms of enjoying the garden during the hottest months of the year," says Michael John McGarr, director and garden designer at Warnes McGarr & Co.Spring is a season full of potential for both the plants about to spring to life in your garden, but also for homeowners to lay the seeds of their garden design planning ideas.The arrival of spring also means that summer is just around the corner, so take the time now to really think about how you want
Read MoreSo it begins! It was great to get on the "big train to the big smoke" on Monday. As I dragged my suitcase through the streets of Wigan towards the train station, my usual penchant for garden design observation kicked in. I began to take in the good, and not so good gardens and landscape architecture within the public spaces around town. I needn't have been too concerned with this, as what lay in store for me was something far more exciting. The London College of Garden Design are hosting the "Spring Info Burst : New Ideas : New materials"
Read MoreHouzz Awards 2019 - Warnes McGarr & Co. - Award Winning Landscape Design. Awarded by the community of over 40 million monthly users, annual BOH badge highlights home renovation & design professionals with Top ratings and most popular home designs "Warnes - McGarr & Co. of Wigan has won “Best Of Design ” on Houzz®, the leading platform for home renovation and design. The multi award winning landscape design and build company was chosen by the more than 40 million monthly unique users that comprise the Houzz community from among more than 2.1 million active home building, renovating and design industry professionals.The Best Of Houzz is
Read MoreBy Michael John McGarr Garden lighting in landscape design. Garden lighting in landscape design is extremely important and it is often an afterthought for most clients. However, we encourage them to think about lighting early on. In our British climate, our garden is viewed most of the year from the interior of the property so it is paramount that lighting is effective. This is particularly poignant in winter when shorter days render lighting the most effective feature within a garden.It always make me smile when clients use their garden lighting systems to wow guests at winter dinner parties. It never occurred to them that they would be
Read MoreBy Robert Warnes.Sketchup for Landscape design. I have done quite some reading recently on established landscape design principles and conventions, but rarely have I come across anything detailing the specific method and workflow we employ as a company of designers to achieve our garden designs. There will be many garden design purists out there who firmly believe that in order to effectively design it is essential to be able to put pencil to paper and physically draw the garden. I disagree. I am unfortunately not blessed with talent or skill to do this. I do feel however this obstacle can be overcome by
Read MoreBy Michael John McGarr Our niche within landscape design in 2019. Our niche within landscape design in 2019 has developed from our passion to create gardens that people can use all year round, as well as a continuing trend for outdoor living.We feel that a traditional lawned garden with flower beds around the edges is designed to be viewed through the window and perhaps mowed once a week in the summer to keep it looking spick and span. We can achieve so much more...[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="3600"] Outdoor living space and outdoor kitchen in a landscape design in 2019 by Warnes-McGarr &
Read More'The way we see it, our gardens don't belong to us alone – they belong to all the wildlife that lives there, eats there or even just uses them as a stopping off point,' says award-winning garden designer Michael John McGarr of Warnes McGarr & Co. 'This could involve the hedgehog that wanders through your garden at night, the birds that stop off in the thick shrubbery, right through to the beetles and woodlice that live under a stone at the end of the garden.'It doesn't take a huge amount of effort to ensure wildlife can flourish in your garden
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