From the drawing board

A while ago I shared the new terrace design for a London Town House.  The house building project is almost finished and the construction of the terrace is due to start next week so I thought I’d share the planting design with you.

The emphasis of the scheme is on foliage as the terrace will feel very much part of their inside living space all year round.  The black-stemmed bamboo (phyllostachys nigra) and paperbark maple (Acer griseum) will take centre stage and will be highlighted at night with up-lighters.

Aesthetic lighting can make a real difference to the garden especially when the house has a lot of glass.  The new extension at this property has floor to ceiling panels of glass looking out on to the garden so there won’t be any form of blinds or curtains.  The lights will make the terrace part of the house at night too – without them, garden will feel like a black hole, especially when the lights are on inside the house.

Most of the plants are evergreen so that the beds looks full even in the depths of winter. The arching fronds of the ferns provide shape and texture as does the cornus which has beautiful light variegated foliage in the summer and brilliant red young stems when the leaves are gone which look fabulous when the sunlight catches them. .

Here is the plan on paper, in case you’d like to see what is planted where…

Part of the design process is to produce a full set of working drawings and a Scope of Works which not only enables the landscaper to accurately quote to build the garden, but also communicates the design in detail so that it can be brought to life as intended.  Within the Scope of Works it is the designer’s responsibility to source and specify the materials to be used and last week I spent time sourcing these for my project in Sutton.  Read more

I know, I know, I have already showed you a concept design and sketches this week for a garden in Sutton, but I wanted to show you the sketches I put together for a garden in Cobham as it’s a really exciting project and one that has been a little challenging to tie all together. Read more

I spent 3 days last week planting up the garden in Ashtead.  I wouldn’t normally be quite so hands on with digging and moving soil, but as I had some help for the toughest day, I was happy to do it.  Read more

Last week I presented a concept design and sketches to a client in Sutton.  Now that they have almost finished the redesign of their interior space, they wanted to look at the garden.  Because the only access to the back garden is through the house, they can’t put the hall flooring in until the garden has been finished so we are hoping to start the build before the end of October. Read more

As you know, I have spent much of the last 2 weeks planting up the garden near woking.  Although this hot spell isn’t the best thing to have straight after planting, we did manage to get the garden mulched whilst the soil was still cool and damp so it should be ok.  Of course, it’s going to take some time for the planting to fill out and feel like a proper garden, but it’s amazing what even the smallest specimens do to soften the hard landscaping. Read more

As you know, I’ve just spent the last 6 days planting up the project near Woking.  It’s all coming together now and I’ll be meeting with the client and landscaper later this week to sign everything off.  When I was designing the garden, one of the considerations was an area near the garden shed as it could been seen from the lounge window and was really unattractive… Read more

Yesterday was day 1 of the planting phase for the project near Woking.  The first load of plants arrived and the second load are due to be delivered today.  The first stage is to set all the plants out in line with the planting design and then we can start getting the plants in the ground. Read more

I have recently been working with a client in West Sussex who had their garden designed and built some 20 years ago.  It’s an amazing location, tucked away in the country and the garden is fully mature now and really quite wonderful.   So why, I ask you say, have I been asked to come in and have a look? Read more

This month saw the launch of a new industry magazine called Pro Landscaper and I am very excited to tell you that one of my projects is featured in the very first copy! Read more