Blog
Chelsea Flower Show: Oranges and Purples
Although the key colour trend at Chelsea this year was green, it was closely followed by oranges and blues/purples with many of the perennial favourites in evidence. Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’ with its purple stems and purple-blue flowers, the pompoms of alliums,...
Chelsea Flower Show: Green is the trend
This year the Chelsea Flower Show was all about foliage and the colour green, a colour typically known for its calming properties, creating harmony and growth. It’s also a colour of hope, nature and life, at the start of the year we all look for the first green...
Front Gardens: Making the most of a small space
Every time I walk along a street my heart sinks a little lower and I can’t help thinking of the Joni Mitchell song ‘Big Yellow Taxi’, in particular the line ‘They paved paradise and put up a parking lot’. Whilst I appreciate parking is at a premium in many towns and...
Snowdrop Walks and other bulbs for seasonal interest
I love going on a snowdrop walk, a chance to see a whole carpet of their tiny white nodding heads, the first signs that spring is on its way. It’s also an opportunity to drool over new varieties, a chance to add new clumps and perfect for covering up bare soil and...
Whats Happening in the Garden in September
September is that back to school back to work time of year, with new beginnings uppermost in the mind it is an ideal time to start thinking about new beginnings in the garden, planning changes to the garden for next year and tidying up the garden for winter. It is a...
Garden plants: Which ones are riding the heatwave
With the current heatwave I’ve been thinking about plants that tolerate dry conditions, what I can plant in clients’ gardens that aren’t going to require them to invest a lot of time in watering. There are a lot of plants falling into this category that I already love...
Chelsea flower show trends: Lupins
Lupins were the must have plant from this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, with just about every colour covered across the show gardens. One of my favourites is the deep velvety purple and red of Lupinus ‘Masterpiece’, I love seeing it in the middle of a border (it grows...
Winter Colour: Scented Plants
Personally I love plants that stir up more than more sense, winter flowering shrubs are some of the best at this, not only do they bring a much needed spark of colour to the garden but they also have amazing scents. A waft of scent as you wander up the garden path or...
Planting Combinations: Deep reds, grasses and a splash of purple
Wandering round the Chelsea Flower Show provided some great inspiration for planting combinations. For a combination of deep red flowers, the slightly crooked spikes of Lysimachia atropurpurea 'Beaujolais' mixed in with the nodding heads of Aquilegia vulgaris ‘Winky...
Garden design trends: Using greenery to help a pop of colour stand out
Looking around at the garden trends for 2017, the key colour this year is the pantone colour of Greenery, whether using it as an accent colour inside or as a backdrop in the garden. Pantone describe it as, ‘Greenery is a fresh and zesty yellow-green shade that...
Winter Colour: Colourful stems
Now that deciduous trees and shrubs have lost their leaves, with only the bare bones left there are many shrubs with vibrant stems that can light up a garden or provide focal points at this time of year. The dogwood (Cornus) family in particular has colourful stems...
Autumn Colour: Leaves
There are some amazing foliage colours lighting up the landscape at this time of year, as the leaves turn from green to yellows, glowing oranges and vibrant reds. These are due to both the temperature and daylight hours reducing, which in turn stops plants producing...