Blog
Visiting Ninfa
More than any other garden that I’ve visited there was a real sense of place here, a space that really tugged on the heart strings, whether this was due to being there for the first tour of the morning, watching the mist rise over the water or the joy of the roses...
Garden Design Trends: Wildflowers and Meadows
Wildflowers look to be a continuing trend, from planting a meadow, a strip at the edge of a lawn or a few seeds scattered amongst existing borders. Whether creating meadows or wildflower planting schemes from annuals, perennials, bulbs or mixing them up. Annuals I...
Indoor Flowers: Bringing the outside in for Christmas
I love the scent of Christmas trees at this time of year, in the same way that I love walking through a pine forest just after it has rained. The fresh pine scent that fills the car as you bring it home and the waft you get as you walk past the tree in the house....
Winter Colour
I love wandering around gardens in winter seeing them stripped back to their bare structure; it allows me time to look around my own garden and think have I got the bones, the core architecture of the garden right and to get inspiration from other gardens to add more...
Roses
After spending a day at David Austin Roses soaking in all the colours and inhaling the amazing scents how could anyone failed to be impressed and not want at least one in your own garden. Choosing a repeat flowering variety with scent means that there will be colour...
The Alhambra
Having researched the gardens of the Alhambra while studying Garden Design, at 10am on a warm (27 °C) and sunny June morning I finally found myself standing at the entrance to the Alhambra in anticipation of what lay beyond. Walking down the hill, through the Alhambra...
Trends at Chelsea
I really enjoyed seeing such a wide range of planting palettes at the Chelsea Flower Show this year, there wasn’t really one key theme, the predominantly green with splashes of white or blue and purples themes that have been seen in previous years. The key plant that...
Tulips
What’s not to love about a plant that comes in just about any colour you could want and provides a real zing of colour to any garden. Having walked through parks and gardens with amazing displays of tulips recently they truly signal spring has arrived and summer isn’t...
Spring Flowers
I love this time of year as everything starts re-emerging from its winter hibernation, going for a walk in the countryside and spotting the violas, anemones and primroses as they emerge in the woodlands. The bright white dots of Anemone nemorosa carpeting the woodland...
Update your Shed
This is the perfect time to start preparing for the new year in the garden, cleaning and tidying away plant pots and sorting the shed out.Reviewing packets of seed, throwing out any that are past their viable date or are more than 2-3 years old. It also provides a...
Purple and Blue Borders
Blue and purple flower colours are popular choices for gardens, particularly at recent flower shows including Chelsea 2014. They can add some real impact to borders, particularly when tempered with more muted colours or background planting, such as a swathe of deep...
Vertical Gardening
Everywhere you look green walls and vertical gardens are springing up, given the constant competition for space this is a great way to get a garden or small piece of garden into city living. In Milan there are now a pair of skyscrapers with as many trees planted on...