I went to see a potential client in Clapham on Saturday. They live in a beautiful Victorian town house and are slowly restoring its original features. They’re very keen to improve the look and feel of the front garden first, the back garden will come later.

As I walked down the road to their house it struck me that not one of the front gardens was inspiring or beautiful. Why are front gardens so often overlooked?

If you read my blog regularly you’ll know that we redesigned and built our front garden a couple of years ago and even now that the novelty of having a new garden has worn off, it still makes me smile when I open the door or come home.

You may not want to sit out there and enjoy a cup of coffee or read a book, but front gardens are the only part of your outside space that you walk through whatever the weather, time of day or season, so why wouldn’t you want it to inspire you?

Front gardens are the window to your home. They need to be practical of course, somewhere to park your car, keep the rubbish bins etc, but what’s stopping you from making more of the space you have?   Front gardens can be beautiful and inspiring too, they don’t have to be solely about function.  Trust me, they really do have the ability to make you smile!

I recently came across these very funky outdoor domes.  I love the versatility of them and, because they’re classed as semi-permanent structures, there’s no requirement to apply for planning permission before erection. Read more

This month’s Garden Flowers post, which I write with Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona features Aster ‘Mӧnch’. Read more

I like all the seasons, but autumn has to be my favourite. I particularly love the rich warm colours, especially on sunny days when the sun makes the autumn foliage glow. Read more

Autumn is most certainly in the air now and I’ve been in Somerset for the past 4 days looking after my parents’ nursery. Read more

It’s been a bit tough to get going this week because I’ve just returned from 2 weeks of waking up to the amazing mountains in Lefkada.  When, this morning, I found myself running in the fog it was difficult to imagine that just 2 days ago we were drinking iced coffee by the sea. Read more

A couple of weeks ago I visited the Alitex factory and showroom near Petersfield in Hampshire.  I can think of worse places to work, they’re right on the edge of the South Downs so the surrounding countryside is gorgeous. Read more

I’ve been dying to share the pictures of my Leatherhead project with you.  It’s been quite a while since the construction took place, but every time I’ve had an opportunity to take some photos, it’s just been too bright.
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A few weeks back I visited the Hannah Peschar sculpture garden near Ockley in Surrey.  What an amazing place!  I’ve wanted to go for years, but never quite got there, so I grabbed the chance when one of the members of my Society of Garden Designers cluster group organised a visit there. Read more

I hope you had a lovely weekend. This month’s Garden Flowers post, which I write with Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona, features the dahlia. Read more