Three basic steps of garden design with a designer

“People often ask us how to go about designing a home garden,”. “Well, what seems as if it might be quite complex is actually relatively simple – as long as you follow some basic principles of garden design.”

the first step in the process is the site.

Site
“I always find it really useful to photograph a site,”  “because it’s amazing how much you don’t notice. You can also, using photographs, just draw over the top of them to get an idea of how your garden might look as you build it.”

“I find that very useful as well as computer software. “The photos and that first impression that you get are key in terms of looking in the site itself, looking at what’s beyond the boundaries, looking at the street and at what other people are doing. They help to balance the elements of what you want to achieve within the garden with the broader landscape.”

Materials
The next step is choosing the right materials. These build on and enhance a garden’s overall character. We used a low diversity of paving materials.The colour tones are also reflected in the tile work on the outside of the house.”

Plants
The very last step in the design process – which might seem strange if you’re new to garden design.
We obviously worked hard to establish the right plants in the right ecological conditions.
“We want to have plant success, so we want to choose the right plant for the right place.

We believes planting in numbers is also a key and says sometimes putting plants in twos can look contrived, but threes, fives and sevens are the way to go. “I do tend to plant in odd numbers”. Once you get past about nine, you don’t notice it anymore, but I also try to plant in non-grid fashion to give a more natural feel.