Why Planting Design Is About More Than Choosing Plants

Choosing plants is one of the most enjoyable parts of creating a garden. It is very easy to fall for a beautiful flower at a nursery, spot something wonderful in somebody else’s garden, or start collecting plants simply because you love them. But a collection of lovely plants doesn’t necessarily make a successful garden. Good […]

What Does a Garden Designer Really Look For on a First Visit?

“Please don’t judge it today.” That’s probably the sentence I hear most. Sometimes it’s the weeds. Sometimes it’s the lawn. Quite often it’s an overgrown border that someone has been meaning to tackle for months, but life has got in the way. I usually smile because, honestly, it makes no difference. If you’ve invited a […]

When Is the Best Time to Start a Garden Design Project?

Every year it happens. The first properly warm weekend arrives sometime in spring. The doors get thrown open, somebody carries a coffee into the garden, stands there for a minute and suddenly notices all the things they’d managed to ignore through winter. The tired lawn. The awkward patch near the fence. The lack of somewhere […]

Planning a Kitchen Garden That You’ll Actually Want to Spend Time In

There’s a point every spring where people suddenly start imagining themselves growing vegetables. Usually somewhere around the first warm afternoon. Garden centres get busy. Seed packets appear on kitchen tables. Somebody buys six varieties of tomato without entirely knowing where they’re going to put them. And honestly, I understand it. A kitchen garden has a […]

Meet the Garden Designer: My Approach to Creating Naturalistic Gardens

I was recently featured in Priceless Magazine, which gave me a moment to stop and think about how I actually work. Not the polished version. The real version. What shapes my designs. What clients experience. And why some gardens feel right, while others never quite settle. If you’re thinking about working with a garden designer, […]

What Does a Garden Design Plan Include?

If you’ve never worked with a garden designer before, it’s easy to assume a plan is simply a drawing. In reality, it’s much more considered than that. A garden design plan is a structured process that turns an idea into something that can actually be built, planted, and enjoyed over time. It’s also what separates […]

How Planting Shapes a Garden Through the Season

People often ask when a garden looks its best. The answer they expect is usually summer. Roses out. Borders overflowing. Everything performing exactly as planned. But gardens rarely behave quite that neatly. Spend enough time watching them and you start to notice something else entirely. The interesting ones never peak in just one moment. They […]