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

Most people in the UK, especially if they have young children in the family, would consider a lawn to be an essential element to be included within the design of their garden.  Lawns aren’t considered to be a low-maintenance element of the garden, after all they need to be attended to at least once a week in the summer, but they are a quintessential part of the English garden. Read more

We are soon to enter what’s called the “bare root” season in the horticultural world and it really is the best time to buy and plant deciduous trees, hedging plants and roses.  Basically this means that the plants have been lifted straight from the ground and literally have “bare” roots (they have no soil around them).  The season starts at the beginning of November and finishes in April when the plants are dormant. Read more

I have a meeting on site tomorrow morning with the contractors who will be building the project in Sutton and one of the things I need to do whilst I am there is to agree the colour of the resin bound aggregate that we are planning to use for the driveway.  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

Now is the time to plant your spring-flowering bulbs. Read more

Ok, we’ve just had a mini heatwave, but there are a few plants in my garden that are still looking pretty good.  The first star of the show is the Geranium ‘Jolly Bee’ which is one of my favourite plants to use in the garden as it flowers faithfully from May well into October. Read more