Category Archives: blog

New Design Video – Minimalist White Chic Urban Garden

Here’s the video showing the aerial views of the original design we produced for our client in Roath, Cardiff. All our designs are produced in three dimensions allowing our clients to fully appreciate and understand our vision for their garden. Here in Wales, where many gardens are on sloping sites, flat plans just don’t communicate the design.

We present all our designs on DVD and on paper as part of our Full Design Service

See more of this design and the finished garden here

If you think we can help you with a garden design or planting please Contact Us

New Design – Minimalist White Chic Urban Garden

We transformed this small garden in Roath, Cardiff into a modern and contemporary entertaining space. By removing the old garage that wasn’t really used we increased the overall space by more than a third allowing two separate areas – dining and cooking, as well as lush specimen planting.

Contrasting materials including sawn sandstone and composite decking were used to provide a clean crisp finish. Lighting and a water feature that works it’s way through the length of the garden completed the effect.

You can see more of this design and the finished garden here

If you think we could help you with a garden design or planting please Contact Us

Spring Planting Combination – Pink and Blue

Here’s a nice spring planting combination. Tulipa ‘Pink Diamond’ with Lithodora ‘Heavenly Blue’. There ia also Juniperus ‘Blue Star’ to the left of the photo too. Lithodora is a great plant though it needs trimming every so often to stop it getting woody. This combination was an experiment. We’ll be adding more Pink Diamonds this autumn.

Herb gardens don’t have to take up much space

Here’s a pair of containers that we supplied for a client’s terrace – right outside the kitchen door – perfect for cooking! Although the containers are only a metre wide and 30cms deep we were able to fit the following hardy herbs in there.

Bay
Curly leaf parsley
Flat leaf parsley
Chives
Oregano
Thyme
Lemon Oregano

Site Visit – Steeply Sloping Front Garden

This is a steeply sloping, wide but shallow front garden that we planted last year. Originally turfed and a nightmare to maintain it was a typical new build garden. Poor soil and grass that was struggling. We renewed the soil and stripped off the turf. Then we used new FSC timber sleepers to create mini-tiers. We chose an Amelanchier candanensis as a feature tree against the bare two storey brick wall. It’s a great small tree with lovely blossom as you can see from the pictures, and even better autumn colour.

The rest of the site was planted with a mix of shrubs and herbaceous perennials to give year round interest. Mixed green and blue slate of different grades were used as a deep mulch.

If you think we can help with your garden then please Contact us

Site Visit – Fruit, Vegetable and Cutting Garden

Our client gets a lot of rabbits in their garden but was keen to grow their own fruit, vegetables and flowers for arranging. We built them this large enclosure and planted the fruit last year. Lots of species including summer and autumn raspberries, red, green and yellow gooseberries, red, white and blackcurrants, blueberries and more. Elsewhere in the garden we have planted apples, pears and quinces. All the fruit beds have weed fabric fitted and mulch laid – so no weeds – low maintenance indeed.

This year we’ll be planting vegetables in the enclosure as well as annuals for flower arranging and for inclusion in the ornamental garden elsewhere on the site.

If you’d like to grow your own fruit, vegetables or flowers for cutting, maybe we can help. Contact us here.

New Design – Garden Room Garden

Here’s a garden we designed which was built and planted last year. The client had built a contemporary glass garden room and wanted a space built adjacent to it to provide a focal point and an entertaining space. We’ll be back later in the year to take photos of it in full bloom.

You can find the full detail of the design and lots of photos on the design’s page here

If you’d like us to design and plant something similar for your garden then please Contact Us

Site Visit – Fruit and Vegetable Garden Completed

Fruit and Veg growing is certainly a growing trend. We built several productive gardens last year and will be going back to photograph their progress later this year once there’s some foliage!

Meanwhile here’s one of this year’s new projects. This is a great Before and After example. A productive garden in the making. We’ve used FSC sourced timbers to create an easily manageable space with room for fruit and 5 raised vegetable beds to allow crop rotation and a bed for perennials such as asparagus.

The fruit has been planted (raspberries, apples, plums, blackcurrants, jostaberries, gooseberries, and blackberries) and the compost bin built. Here’s to a productive spring

Below is the original plan that we created for the client plus a couple of other pics

If you need help creating your fruit and vegetable garden – please Contact Us

The most powerful vegetable grower on the planet?

Amused by this article in the Telegraph about Michelle Obama starting to dig the new vegetable garden at The White House while wearing Jimmy Choo boots!

I hope Michelle, who will apparently be tending the garden with the Commander in Chief (hmm, right) realises how much work is entailed in veg growing. It’s always best to start small and get some successes under your belt (or in your stomach) rather than creating a re-enactment of The Good Life in one go.

UPDATE – Here’s a plan of the garden

New Design – High Terrace Garden

Another new design added to the website. This one is a Newport garden that was originally two levels, unfortunately the upper level was over 3 metres higher than the patio. The design maximised the upper level creating over 100 square metres of level lawn. The lower patio design featured a sweeping set of steps and dramatic up-lit wall panels made from sandstone. Check out more details of our design for this challenging garden here.

Because we’re based in South Wales we get a lot of sloping or terraced gardens to look at. If we can help you with yours please Contact Us