I popped back to see one of my Leatherhead projects last week.  I was commissioned earlier in the year to help my client to introduce some planting beds to her new garden.  It was a brand new house when she moved in so other than a terrace and lawn, there wasn’t much else there.

The planting needs some time to fill out, but in just one month it’s already looking more like a garden.  My client wanted a cottagey feel to the garden so there are roses, penstemon, anthemis and nepeta along with verbena bonariensis, clematis and anemone.

Originally along the back fence there was a row of cypress trees which the builder had planted – this is how it looked before…

Some of them were dying so we made the decision to take them out and my client wanted to replant with a photinia hedge which will eventually act as a backdrop to the other planting.

At the far end of the garden are several yew trees which are covered by a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) and this means that they can’t be removed. It’s very difficult to grow things under yew because the light is low and they have a high sap content.

When I first visited the garden, the beds at the front of the house were over planted with robust shrubs like photinia, skimmia, laurel and viburnum tinus so we have moved some of these to the area under the yew trees.  They look healthy enough so far so fingers crossed they continue to grow.

The only thing left to plant now are the spring bulbs which I’ll pop back to plant in a few weeks time.  I’m looking forward to seeing the garden next summer when the planting’s had some more time to fill out.

I have recently been commissioned to work with a couple in East Horsley.  They’ve lived there for just over the year and now that they have completed some renovations to the house they are ready to tackle the garden. 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

One of the first blog posts I ever wrote featured a courtyard garden I designed for a client in Reigate.  Whilst the build was in full swing my client was swept off her feet and by the end of the project she had accepted a proposal of marriage and decided to sell the house. 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

I love everything about Astrantia, their shape and form and ability to work within a naturalistic or more formal planting scheme.  The only bad thing about them is that they prefer poor-draining soil and this means that I can’t plant any in my own garden! Read more

You may remember that I helped a client in Wandsworth to redesign their terrace last year.  They were part-way through an extensive house building project and now that it’s all finished, they have asked me back to help them to redesign their front garden. Read more

Buddleja is one of those plants that divides opinion.  I have a Buddleja davidii ‘Royal Red’ in my garden and I love it because it brings height and colour to the corner next to the shed and it also attracts insects and butterflies to the garden. Read more

In between the showers last weekend I sat out in the garden and one of the best plants out there at the moment is the Jasmine ‘Clotted Cream’ (Jasminum officinale ‘Clotted Cream’) on the fence next to our sitting area.  It’s covered in flowers and the scent is amazing. Read more

You may well be familiar with Gaze Burvill and their beautiful garden furniture and if you’ve ever been to RHS Wisley Garden then you’ll have seen the wonderful wave benches they have next to the lake. Read more