Winter Scent – Viburnum bodnantense Dawn

One of the best things about this time of the year is that plants with scent and flowers stand out because you’re just not expecting them. Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn’ is one such plant.

Easy to grow and maintain it will get up to 8 -10 foot as a multi stemmed shrub or can be kept smaller if required. The beautifully scented flowers appear sometimes as early as November and continue right through into the spring when the mid green foliage takes over.

Depending on the weather the plant can get quite nice autumn colour too before dropping it’s leaves.

‘Dawn’ works best against a dark background or as a focal point. Position it in a spot that you walk past regularly or near a window or door to get the most of the heavenly scent.

The pictures above were taken in January and as you can see the flowers were really getting going.

Shade loving plant – Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’

One of our favourite plants for difficult shady spots is Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’. It works particularly well at the base of hedges or trees where the foliage really stands out. Grown for its foliage that appears in the early spring and stays until the winter sets in. In the spring dainty blue forget-me-not type flowers appear on slender stems.

Plant in drifts for maximum impact.

New Year, New Tech! – Photo Realism in Garden Design

View from the Pond

New for 2013 we are going to be introducing photo realistic rendering for our garden design projects to truly communicate the potential of our designs. Here are some examples for a design that we are building this year.

We’ve been designing in 3D for nearly 10 years now and the quality of today’s software is light years from when we started out. Look out for more new images soon but to wet your appetite here are two more – click on the pictures for larger versions.

Contrasting Materials

Bench to Patio

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you!

We’re going to be making lots of changes to the website in the next few months – there’s lots of new designs to show plus other stuff too!

Please let us know if you find any problems with the new site.

New Design – Peaceful Courtyard 1

This is a design for a courtyard garden in Cardiff. Click on the picture above to launch the presentation video.

New Design – Crescent Layers

This garden swept around two sides of a house in St Mellons, Cardiff. A new conservatory had been added to the house and the client wanted a total reworking of the garden. We designed a sequence of crescent shaped curved layers to provide a set of flowing forms around the house.

A patio sighted for the late afternoon and early evening sunshine was raised to catch the last rays of the sun and adjacent was a small wildlife pond with an integrated and lit cascade.

The full page for this garden can be found on our Design Gallery

If you would like our help with your garden then please Contact Us

New Design – Peaceful Retirement

Here’s the first of the new designs that we completed in 2011. This garden for a couple approaching retirement reworked the space after a new conservatory was added to the house. Using aged natural stone materials to blend with the architecture of the house and surrounding conservation area the design provided a relaxing, low maintenance space.

The full page of the design can be found on our Design Gallery

If you think that we could help you with your garden then please Contact Us

Future Designs Sneak Peak

Here are a few sneak peaks at some of the gardens that are being built and planted this year

We can design for any size garden or space to suit any style. Please Contact Us to see how we can help you.

Growing for the Spring and Summer

Growing our own plants

We grow a number of plants in small quantities to use in our clients gardens (and our own too!). Mainly we grow varieties that are difficult to get from suppliers or that you can only get at certain times of the year. This means that we can plant them as part of a project even if they are not in season

We also buy and pot up plants that are only available at certain times (e.g. Snowdrops) so that we can include them in clients planting schemes any time during the year. We do this as part of our Planting Projects as well as part of our Seasonal Maintenance Services

The Snowdrops are waking up…..

Here in Wales the snow has gone for the time being (fingers crossed!). The snowdrops are starting to appear. We put over a thousand snowdrops in clients gardens last year – they must be planted “in the green” – i.e. as plants rather than bulbs if you want them to be successful.

We buy both single and double British snowdrops in early Spring and can plant them as part of our Seasonal Maintenance Services

If you want some snowdrops this year or we can help you with your garden please Contact Us