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
Read MoreWinter is a time for reflection for all aspects of our lives. And there is no better time than to start thinking about what you want from a garden re-design.This is a great time to look properly at the space you have and take the time to reimagine what is could be. It’s time to grab a cup of tea or hot chocolate and just look outside and begin to imagine what your garden could look like with proper planning and design.What do you want from your outdoor living space? Is it more socialising space? Is it more space for creative planting?
Read MoreEven 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
Read MoreThe 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 MoreLight 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
Read MoreThis week I’ve been spotting some fabulous late-flowering perennials, which due to the mild October and smattering of sunny days are still covered in various types of bees.The bright purple blooms above are Aster x frikartii 'Monch', spotted at RHS Bridgewater recently - looking very healthy and being enjoyed by bees. I've also recently spotted a classic ‘butterfly bush’, otherwise known officially as Buddleia, which was covered in honey bees. These are fast-growing late flowering plants, come in various wonderful shades of purple, pinks and whites.And lastly, ivy is another fast growing and late flowering evergreen perennial, which when left to
Read MoreThis excellent article (below) that featured in The Observer on Sunday, talks through the issues of climate change and droughts and how it affects grass. The end of grass is so ubiquitous and has so many uses. It's so common we don't even notice it, but we certainly notice when it stops growing through drought. Just this summer, large parts of the southern parts of the UK saw months of brown dry grass as it simply hadn’t rained for months. What isn’t always obvious is that grass (including corn) is used for feeding large amounts of domestic and farmed animals. However,
Read MoreAutumn is a brilliant time for buying and planting bare-rooted fruit trees. It’s cheaper to buy them bare-rooted and gives the plant a good chance to settle in before growing season starts in the spring time. Planting an apple or pear tree (or maybe both) makes for a classic British garden, especially when you get a glut of fruit and offer them around your neighbours, and you have to eat apple crumble every weekend. In the springtime, both apple and pear trees have a really pretty white flower, which smells delicious. There's a huge selection of flavours and varieties of fruit, and size of
Read MoreMayfield Park is central Manchester’s newest municipal park in more than 100 years. This park has been six years in the planning and covers 6.5 acres just near Piccadilly station, and runs along the River Medlock. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the landscape architects have planned a new municipal park for the 21st century. The family-friendly space has a kids play park, areas to host live events, and is situated right next to Escape to Freight Island, an open-air food and drink hall. It also demonstrates the city’s commitment to reduce carbon emissions and creating more green spaces for well-being. Find out
Read MoreSeptember 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
Read MoreI've been working on a new rooftop garden design which has amazing borrowed views of West Lancashire. Creating a rooftop garden is completely different to designing a usual garden outside a house. Weight limits are of course one of the initial concerns, as well as slightly different environmental situation.In this garden design, we’ve selected an Amelanchier tree, also known as a juneberry tree. This stunning specimen tree is a deciduous tree, with a beautiful white flower in the spring and an orange leaf in the autumn. This is a hardy species and will not grow too large for the space.Sedum has
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
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