This beautiful plant filled front garden channels rain water from the roof of the house into a central gully where plant roots clean it before slowly allowing it to disperse through the garden. This has an enormously positive impact on flooding and allows the opportunity to grow a diverse range of plants. A meandering path through the planting allows visitors to feel immersed in nature and creates a real sense of arrival at the front door.

This planting might look complicated to look after, but a mix of grasses and tough herbaceous perennials means that it really only needs a tidy up a couple of times over the summer with a big cut back in early Spring. I can provide maintenance schedules for all of my planting schemes which will give you all the information you need to tend your plants.

The work for large gardens is often completed in phases, and these pictures are Phase 1 and 2 of the renovation of this country garden in Wendover. The clients wanted an entertaining area next to the existing hot tub and gym and this space makes use of a lovely sunny spot in the garden with views across to a meadow. The pergola creates a sheltered area which is still open to the sunshine. Planting envelops the terrace and tall grasses are used to screen the hot tub from the rest of the garden. Phase 2 was completed in Autumn 2023 to connect this area with a new terrace from the house and Phase 3 is due in 2024. Look forward to sharing pictures of the entire garden!

This design for a busy family, took a long narrow garden with a large level change between front and back and created different areas for everyone to enjoy, especially the bees! A space for wildlife was crucial to this brief and so plants that offered pollen and nectar all year round were planted throughout the garden.

For the humans, a dining space close to the house incorporated a built-in seat to the retaining wall as a space saving device, and a decent sized lawn for their daughter to play on was created. A second seated area away from the house was also built so that the couple could enjoy drinks with friends of an evening and not disturb their child.

The design was produced at a 45° angle in order that there was as much of journey as possible through the space and so that the planting enveloped the different areas.

The owners of this family garden had inherited a space which was overgrown, old fashioned and completely unsuitable for themselves or their young family. Over the course of a year and a half, I helped them to completely redesign their outside space with areas for the children to play, outdoor dining, seating with fire pit and a pizza oven.

The planting is low maintenance but also enables the owners to spend a little time gardening which they enjoy. Dividing the garden into sections has enabled them to spend time together as a family but also allow the children’s play area not to dominate their outdoor space.

There were some gorgeous existing trees in this lovely little woodland style garden but the shrubs had become overgrown and some of the perennials had run rampant. I edited out the plants that weren’t working and introduced some repeating plants such as Hydrangea arborescent ‘Annabelle’, Astrantia major ‘Roma’ and the lovely native ground cover plant Gallium odoratum.

I also planted a bulb meadow in the centre of the space to add to the slight sense of wildness in this garden.

The planting creates a beautiful, romantic feel and a space that you just want to sit in with a glass of wine on a warm evening.