I love this beautiful contemporary garden, designed by Paul Martin and built by Kent based RDC Landscapes www.rdclandscapes.co.uk. It won a gold medal earlier this year at Chelsea. The block theme works so well. It is repeated throughout the garden with the garden building, steps, walls, path and water feature. Using the one type of …
Multi-stemmed Parrotia persica
Chelsea Flower show gardens of recent years are a rich seam of inspiration. Luciano Giubbilei is an astonishingly stylish Italian designer and this was part of his Laurent Perrier garden in 2011. Here the pale grey, twisted stems of Parrotia persica multi-stemmed trees stand out against the hornbeam hedge. They do so in a more …
Less is more
I love the work of garden designer Dan Pearson. His advice when creating a planting plan is to choose plants appropriate to the spirit of the place, plants that are right for the soil and situation, and plants that sit well together. Make a list of your favourites – then halve it. Less is more. …
Curving paths using Vande Moortel pavers
This is a Chelsea Flower show garden by Cleve West, back in 2008. The curving paths are made with Vande Moortel pavers www.vandemoortel.co.uk They are small narrow pavers, like vintage bricks, and they lend themselves to both traditional and contemporary gardens. The planting here is very pretty. However I notice the centrepiece in this border …
Front garden driveway
Today I visited a garden I designed last year. The driveway entrance required widening, and an extra space for a car /turning circle was needed. It was nice to see that it has turned out well, and the clients were happy with the result.
Perfect pot, perfect place
This is an example of how the right pot in the right place can make a big impact. The size, shape and colour all complement the garden. The colour of the pot picks up the orange geums and hemerocallis, and also the baton trellis. Credit to London garden designer Kate Gould.
Wrought Iron garden gate
As so many front gardens are being converted into driveways nowadays, there are lots of garden gates to be found on the second hand market. Some of the cast iron gates are going rusty and they do need restoration. The beautiful Victorian style gate above originated from Clapham and was found on Gumtree www.gumtree.com going for …
Re-claimed granite setts driveway
This front garden in Chipstead has been redesigned to make the steps safer and easier to manage, and also the driveway is being extended to accommodate more cars. The original stone of the steps has been re-laid, vintage re-claimed bricks sourced, and to carry on with the theme, re-claimed granite setts are being laid for …
Screening trees required!
Screening is an issue that comes up time and again, and here is an example where it was desperately needed to break up the view of next door’s flats. Not least to give the people in the flats some privacy too. 3 x multi-stemmed Prunus serrula (the Tibetan cherry) were chosen. Given time, they should …
Prunus ‘Shirofugen’
Prunus ‘Shirofugen’ looking lovely at the moment, underplanted with wild garlic (Allium ursinum). ‘Shirofugen’ has tasteful pale pink double flowers which droop languidly, and are accompanied by the emerging bronze foliage. This tree is growing in a front garden in South Croydon, on thin chalky soil. It was planted 9 years ago, and as you …