Garden Design

Planting Progress!

Green City GardensLeave a comment

18 months ago, shortly after the birth of my son, I wrote a blog about my intention to redesign the planting in our tiny back garden. The best laid plans of mice and men! Of course in the general melee of life, parenting and the dreaded return to work, little of consequence occurred during 2018 to progress these grand plans. I did give some thought to the plants I might potentially like to use and did a spot of research into their characteristics and preferred conditions which at least helped to narrow things down. Quaint notions of fully developed planting plans however never materialised.

East Bed Before
East-facing bed November 2017

Continue reading →

Sweet Sensations: Garden Sounds

Green City Gardens2 Comments

When developing a garden I imagine that for most of us the first consideration is the visual: colour schemes, shapes and forms, composition.  We might also think about choosing plants which provide fragrance that we can enjoy with our morning coffee or evening glass of wine, as I discussed in a previous blog.  But how many of us consider the role of sound in the way we experience gardens and green spaces, never mind deliberately incorporate elements which contribute to and enhance the soundscape? Continue reading →

Creating a focal point using containers

Green City GardensLeave a comment

One of the things about having a postage stamp sized garden is that you can see pretty much all of it all of the time.  Design concepts such as having themed ‘rooms’ and creating ‘mystery’ by deliberately obscuring the view of a feature from certain angles are lovely ideas, but nigh on impossible to achieve if you are working with 30m² of space.  Indeed accommodating attractive planting alongside practical features such as bins, water butts and washing lines can be a key challenge when garden proportions are limited.  Thinking about where the eye is naturally drawn to in a garden, and where it is you would like it to rest, can be a big part of balancing the aesthetic and the pragmatic.

Continue reading →

RHS Flower Show Tatton Park 2018

Green City GardensLeave a comment

We are in the midst of the garden show season with seemingly an event somewhere almost every weekend.  Tatton Park is my nearest RHS Flower Show but it’s been a few years since I last attended and I was interested to see what was being showcased.  Visiting a large garden show really brings home what a vast industry there is around gardening and horticulture with numerous suppliers of tools, landscaping features, and other ‘lifestyle’ accoutrements. There are an amazing array of independent specialist nurseries, the displays for some of which are as stunning as the carefully designed show gardens which are the centrepiece of the event, and the focus of this blog.  Continue reading →

Sweet Sensations: Fragrance

Green City Gardens2 Comments

A huge amount of emphasis in gardening is focussed on how plants and hard landscaping can be combined to make a space look good, using colour, form and texture.  However, incorporating features which engage other senses can be equally important in creating a garden which can be enjoyed year round.  Continue reading →