Design Tips

My project in Oxshott is coming along really well and the landscaper is now making some headway with the back garden even despite the difficult conditions on site with the very wet weather we have been having.

Just before Christmas I spent some time sourcing some different hedging options for one of the boundaries where screening is required.  We have recently removed some very overgrown Laurel from this boundary and it has now exposed the house and garden to this rather conspicuous new development next door…

We will be planting some semi-mature trees along here too but it certainly needs some sort of soft landscaping along the fence line.  Initially we had discussed mixed shrub planting, but my client has now made the decision to invest in some instant hedging so that it ties in with the existing mature Beech hedge on the other side of the garden.

Practicality Brown specialise in mature trees and Elveden Instant Hedging, for which they are the sole supplier in the UK.  I visited their site near Heathrow a few years ago and it was really impressive.

Elveden is the only true instant hedging available.  It is field grown and sold per metre as a block of hedge.  A successful growing system has been developed so that the root system is robust enough to ensure quick and successful establishment when the hedge is transplanted. This means that they can be planted all year round.

Buying an instant hedge isn’t a cheap option, a 20 metre run of hedging will set you back in the region of £5,000, but you get what you pay for.  Imagine the love and care that has gone into growing each hedge – if it’s taken 10 years to get the hedge to a saleable condition then it suddenly doesn’t seem so expensive does it?

The hedge at my Oxshott project should be installed in a couple of weeks so I’ll be sure to share the pictures with you, but if you want to learn more about the Elveden Instant Hedging then do have a look at the Practicality Brown website which is extremely informative.

Images: Lisa Cox, Practicality Brown

I went to the Futurescape exhibition at Kempton Park racecourse earlier this week.  It was a show for the landscape and horticultural industries and as well as looking around the trade stands I also attended a couple of the seminars. Read more

I have five planting plans to do at the moment, of which three are for large gardens that will easily need a few hundred plants to fill up the beds.  For many people it’s the plants that get them excited about the garden so it’s really important that this element reflects their personal style and ignites their desire to be out there amongst them. Read more

I spent a day last week putting together the Scope of Works and construction details for my project in Horsley so that I could present the final drawings to my client and also send everything off to the landscaper who is now putting together a full quotation for the build. Read more

I have been spending quite a bit of time looking at natural stone paying over the past 2 weeks so I thought I’d share my top tips for choosing: Read more

If you think about your garden as an extra room it will change the way you use it.  Most people, especially those in the UK, only really spend time in the garden when the weather lends itself to al fresco living but a well designed lighting scheme can transform your garden, making it feel part of your living space whether you’re out in it or not. Read more

Last weekend I ran my second Design Your Own Garden workshop at MakeMe Workshops in the Medicine Garden in Cobham.  This time I remembered to take my camera with me so I thought I’d share the pictures with you and tell you a bit about the workshop. Read more

In this month’s Garden Flowers blog post which I write with blogger and freelance writer, Rona Wheeldon, we’re looking at perhaps one of the lesser well-known garden plants, the flowering currant. Read more

I spent a wonderful morning last Friday at Pots and Pithoi in West Sussex. I love everything about it, the beautiful old buildings and courtyard, the gorgeous gifts and homeware and, most of all, the amazing Cretan pots and urns that they are famous for. Read more

Deciding how you want to move around your garden is one of the defining moments in its creation.  The very act of walking around the space on paper has this amazing ability to make you start thinking about the design in a three dimentional way.  I think this is probably because you know what your garden looks and feels like before you start the design process so you are familiar with it already even if it doesn’t really inspire you. Read more