Tag Archives: shrub

New Design – Sweeping Journey

This 30 meter long narrow garden had been used for many games of football and rugby but now the children had grown the clients wanted a real garden to enjoy.

The brief was to create a design that made the most of the length of the garden while splitting the garden to add visual interest.

 To see more on this design check out it’s page here 

Below is the video showing the design in 3D and photos of the finished garden

Spring Specimen – Magnolia stellata

Slow growing and gorgeous the Magnolia stellata is a perfect specimen for a small garden.  The beautiful white flowers appear in early spring before the bright green leaves.  If you get close, you’ll be able to catch it’s scent.

Contrast it against a dark evergreen background either in a border or a large container.  It likes a a bit of ericaceous (acidic) compost but is not too fussy.

Cultivars are available, some of which have traces of pink in the flowers.  Magnolia stellata ‘Rubra’ actually has dark pink flowers.

 

Winter Scent – Viburnum bodnantense Dawn

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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.

New Design – Gentle Journey

This gently curving design for a large suburban garden in St Mellons near Cardiff worked really well.  Originally a single space we created a garden with multiple sunny and shady spaces, making the most of the mature specimens that were already in the garden.

To see more of this design visit its page here

If we could help you with your garden please Contact Us

New Design – Rippled Circles

This is one of this year’s designs for a suburban garden near Blackwood in South Wales.  The original space, although a great size,  lacked function and definition so we created a design which unified and maximised the space with sweeping curves rippling out from the circular deck.  A new patio and barbecue area with herb garden was added adjacent to the house.  Now finished and planted the owners are delighted.

These are just a few taster photos – the full design page will be up on our website soon

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

Site Visit – Steeply Sloping Front Garden

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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

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New Design – Knot Garden with Holly Standards

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We’re finally getting around to adding some more recent designs to our gallery.  Here’s a knot garden that we put in for a client last year along the front of their contemporary house in Cardiff.  We’re pleased how it is establishing. Knot Gardens are great as they are low maintenance (trim once or twice a year) and provide evergreen structure and form to the space.  With this one we set off the box hedging with slate cube planters with topiary holly and golden flint gravel.  Other male hollies were planted elsewhere in the garden to ensure berries.  For an extra touch we added blue silver Crocus tommasinianus to the containers for early spring interest.

You can find the full detail and lots of photos and design images here

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