Manchester Archives - WM Design Studio LTD

Happy New Year and welcome 2023!

We wish a Happy New Year to all of our friends and clients.Our New Year’s resolutions are to continue pushing the boundaries of high-end garden design, working with the best quality suppliers and being as ecology and environmentally friendly as we can.There is no doubt that people value their homes and their outdoor spaces even more, after we’ve all lived through numerous lockdown situations. More and more people are now working from home, so want to create garden offices or work-friendly outdoor areas. Creating a truly wonderful and flexible outdoor space can massively expand your living space and how you can enjoy your garden.Creating

Categories: Business news, Cheshire, ecological garden design, ecological landscape design, ecology, Garden design, innovation, landscape architecture, Landscape design, Manchester, Michael John McGarr, Residential garden, Wigan
January 6th 2023

Blog | Landscape Gardening In UK | WM Design Studio LTD

How to feed the wildlife over winter

Even though we don’t go outside into our gardens as much during the winter, they are still full of wildlife. It’s important to make sure they have plenty of nourishment until the nature bursts into life again in the spring.This year has been particularly mild (we’ve still had tomatoes in the greenhouse until recently!), so flowering plants have survived for a lot longer. However, we do have frost forecast in the coming weeks so think ahead!There are still plenty of small garden birds outside, feeding on seed heads and berries, but by keeping seed feeders full, this ensures that they

Categories: ecological garden design, ecological landscape design, Lancashire, Landscape design, Manchester, Michael John McGarr, sustainable garden design, wildlife
December 2nd 2022

The Role of Lighting in Landscape Design | WM Design Studio LTD

Light up your gardenThe festive lights at RHS Bridgewater demonstrate how important it is to have good lighting in the winter. By using coloured uplighting at the bottom of individual trees, you can draw attention to specimen trees that you want to highlight.As designers, we wouldn't usually recommend going as far as the photo above (!), but we can certainly draw inspiration from the colours and ideas.The above image of one of our garden designs shows how we use uplighting to highlight certain areas and draw the eye around the garden.At a time when you may not use your garden much at

Categories: Business news, ecological garden design, ecological landscape design, ecology, Garden design, garden lighting, landscape architecture, Landscape design, Manchester, Michael John McGarr
November 7th 2022

Visiting a slick new urban park

The Visiting a slick new urban park has been hugely popular and extremely busy over the past few weeks. This is the first city centre park to be opened in Manchester in more than 100 years, but it has been designed for the 21st century.East Piccadilly has recently been changed from a pretty dodgy derelict area to a burgeoning district of new apartments, leisure and now this beautifully designed park.While not huge, there is a lot crammed into Mayfield Park, with bridges and winding paths taking you over the River Medlock, which was uncovered from its tarmac covering.The kids play area

Categories: Advice and tips, Business news, ecological garden design, ecological landscape design, Garden design, landscape architecture, Landscape design, Manchester
October 14th 2022

How to create a stunning display of lavender

September is a great month to plant lavender bushes, perfect for attracting bees and butterflies and giving a great long summer display of beautifully scented flowers. However, it’s important to select the right type of lavender to give it the best start. Although French lavender is beautiful, it’s not as hardy as an English lavender. So firstly, ensure you select a Lavender Angustifolia for hardiness through the winter. Secondly, I do recommend you buy from a good garden centre or nursery rather than a supermarket. Lavender needs well-drained soil and a sunny position. Don’t plant individual plants too close together as they will

Categories: Advice and tips, Business news, ecological garden design, ecology, Garden design, Lancashire, Landscape design, Manchester, Michael John McGarr, Residential garden
September 16th 2022

A borrowed view…

A ‘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

Categories: Advice and tips, Architecture, Cheshire, ecological garden design, ecological landscape design, Garden design, Lancashire, Manchester, Michael John McGarr, RHS Bridgewater
September 2nd 2022

Planting design ideas from Castlefield Viaduct

Built in 1892, this steel viaduct used to bring heavy rail traffic in and out of the Great Northern Warehouse, but has been unused since 1969.It has now been reclaimed for public use and turned into a ‘sky garden’ by the National Trust. It recently opened, allowing just 100 people per day to have a guided tour and give their feedback.One of our team recently visited the site and the planting was stunning as expected, with trees chosen for their specific historical uses, as well as lots of bountiful flowering borders.It’s brilliant to see another visitor attraction which gives city dwellers the opportunity to see greenery

Categories: ecological garden design, ecological landscape design, Garden design, Lancashire, landscape architecture, Landscape design, Manchester, Michael John McGarr, National Trust
August 19th 2022

New garden design in Lancashire

I’ve been pulling the picture together for this beautiful garden and outdoor living area in Thistleton in Lancashire. We commissioned a bespoke concrete bench for the perfect contemporary look, set off by the grasses.Calamagrostis were the grasses chosen for this garden for their upright feathery plumes, and gentle rustling sound. This perennial has a really long growing season from early spring. In the summer, the silvery pinkish flowers look stunning and then turn into golden seed heads from autumn onwards. It’s easy to look after and just needs a winter cut, ready for the next growing season. We added a row

Categories: Cheshire, ecological garden design, ecological landscape design, Garden design, Lancashire, landscape architecture, Landscape design, Manchester, Michael John McGarr, Outdoor kitchens, sustainable garden design, sustainable garden design.
August 12th 2022

Luxury high-end outdoor kitchen equipment

We have recently started working with Fesfoc, which is a very high end, top quality outdoor kitchen equipment manufacturer, based in Barcelona.They offer true craftsmanship combined with advanced technology to create the ultimate in outdoor cooking.There is a choice of professional-level gas or charcoal grill, which is designed to cook to perfection.They also have created a stunning outdoor sink and storage unit in stainless steel for optimum resistance against weather and wear.Their products really do create a stand-out high-end luxury experience, so we’re really excited to continue our relationship and bring more of their products to the UK.Castlefield Viaduct opensThe ‘skyline’

Categories: Business news, Cheshire, ecological garden design, ecological landscape design, Garden design, landscape architecture, Landscape design, Manchester, Michael John McGarr, Outdoor kitchens, Residential garden
August 12th 2022

Will you lock up your lawnmower?

I love the #NoMowMay campaign and finally people are realising that dandelions and daisies are not a danger and clover should not be cleared. It's fantastic to see so many people on social media showing photos of their lawn and saying they will let their lawn grow, as part of #NoMowMay. Research has found that letting flowers and plants within your lawn bloom naturally can provide 10 times the amount of nectar for bees, butterflies and other pollinators. I would recommend choosing an area of lawn to leave growing, and still mow the parts of the lawn that you use. You could create

Categories: Advice and tips, ecological garden design, ecological landscape design, ecology, Garden design, Lancashire, landscape architecture, Manchester
May 9th 2022

The success of the hedgehog highway

I read this fabulous piece of news that hedgehog numbers are increasing in urban areas (although not as great news that rural numbers have still dropped.)Your average person’s knowledge of hedgehogs’ habitats has increased due to brilliant education around creating ‘hedgehog highways’ between urban gardens to allow hedgehogs to roam throughout the night.Hedgehogs can travel up to 12 miles per night, so our urban or suburban walls and fences make this really tricky for them. We always design in hedgehog highways into any fences, walls or boundaries that we design – these small factors can make a huge difference.Pictured is

Categories: Advice and tips, Business news, Cheshire, ecological garden design, ecological landscape design, ecology, Garden design, landscape architecture, Landscape design, Manchester, Press coverage
March 25th 2022

low maintenance garden design Michael John McGarr

Low-maintenance garden design- experiments, developments and lessons in outdoor living.

by Michael John McGarrThe first question that many clients ask me on that very first consultation meeting is can I design a beautiful garden that will stay beautiful? How do I create a high-spec luxury outdoor living space that is really and truly low maintenance?My contemporary outdoor living spaces are actually naturally low-maintenance. I would not design a stunning space and then tell you that the huge lawn needs mowing twice a week and you need to hand-weed dandelions out of it (who could be bothered to do that?!).I won't leave you with swathes of bedding plants that need to

Categories: Advice and tips, Business news, ecological garden design, ecological landscape design, ecology, Garden design, innovation, Lancashire, landscape architecture, Landscape design, Manchester, Michael John McGarr, Outdoor kitchens, Residential garden, sustainable garden design, wildlife
November 29th 2019

Warnes McGarr & Co. Landscape Design.

5.0

Based on 10 reviews

review us on

Patrick Gormley

16:52 22 Feb 21

WM Design Studio completed a large landscaping project for us at our previous house. They managed the project from... initial design through to build completion. Throughout the process they delighted us from a design that was both sympathetic to the wider area but also blended with our new home extension. They were professional, friendly and respectful during the build and minimised the disruption associated with a large build project. My wife and I were thrilled with the end results and I would have no hesitation in recommending.read more

Christine Burke

13:23 07 Jan 19

WM Design Studio is a very professional company. Everyone we worked with were intelligent and professional. The design... ideas involved things we wouldn't have been able to think of ourselves and included levelling and transformation of a wasteland at the back. As it was a big project for us there were bound to be minor issues and these were all resolved in a timely and professional manner. The budget was negotiated fairly and the work done was of a high quality. It was worth paying for good workmanship and excellent knowledge in all aspects of our garden design and construction.read more

beccy weeks

06:11 24 Dec 18

We had no idea what potential our garden kept hidden as a secret. These guys design unlocked the potential by... designing a living space that matched exactly what we wanted and kept the theme of our house extension running through the garden to the very end. We are really pleased with the design and the pragmatism around staging the delivery to give us exactly what we want. I would recommend to anyone wanting an amazing outdoor living space!!read more

Mike leary

09:48 20 Dec 18

Michael of WM design studio has been instrumental to gaining planning permission on my project. His industry knowledge... and anticipation of what was required have delivered a scheme which fulfils all the requirements of not only myself as the client but also of a very particular design review panel. Recommend without hesitation!read more

Carolyn Hughes

16:38 19 Apr 18

Having worked with WM Design Studio, I am constantly impressed with Michael's creativity, dedication and... professionalism.read more

Norman Willson

20:16 16 Mar 16

"Many thanks to the team--especially Rob --who did a very professional job. Everything looks fine and I am busy... planting out in the new beds.” Norman Willsonread more

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Category: Manchester