Garden Design Styles

Quick Answer A sloped garden is not a problem to solve but a design opportunity to embrace. The most successful approach is to work with the gradient by creating generous, deep terraces connected by wide shallow steps, using retaining walls of sleepers, stone, or brick to hold each level, and slowing the eye and the […]

Real small garden makeover breakdown: £4,500-£9,000 costs, design decisions that actually work, and the specific mistakes I see repeated on every compact garden project. Honest advice from a BBC Garden Rescue designer.

Having a formal front garden is a statement piece, and ideally, it should match the style of the property it will sit with. Period properties, townhouses and turn-of-the-century properties lend themselves really well to a formal garden design. New build houses can also be excellent candidates for a formal garden layout, especially with the trend […]

Quick Answer To design your own garden you need a handful of affordable drawing tools and measuring equipment. The essentials are A3 graph paper, tracing paper, a 10m tape measure, a compass and quality pencils. A lightbox and pop-up easel make the process considerably more comfortable, and coloured pencils or watercolours let you bring your […]

Today, I’m giving you the exact template I use on private clients’ work and BBC Garden Rescue, completely free. This is not a tick box exercise, but a systematic ‘logical’ approach to understanding what you need from your garden. It helps demystify where to start with any garden design. Showing what’s possible within your constraints, […]

Quick Answer A knot garden is a formal garden style based on symmetrical, interlocking patterns of clipped low hedging, traditionally planted with herbs, aromatic plants, and topiary. Originating in Tudor England, knot gardens use plants such as box, germander, thyme, rosemary, and santolina to create geometric patterns best appreciated from above. They are high maintenance […]

Japanese garden design is one of the most studied, imitated, and misunderstood garden styles in the world. I have been fascinated by it for years, both as a garden designer and as someone who has travelled to Japan specifically to walk through the gardens that inspired the whole tradition. Quick Answer A successful Japanese garden […]

You’re probably ready to get stuck into creating your dream new build garden oasis. You have this brand-new green space that could become something amazing. It may closely resemble the new build example below. Then it hits you. You have no idea where to start, and every idea you have doesn’t quite work or leaves […]

Updated March 2026: So you’ve got your ticket in hand for the Chelsea Flower Show and are giddy with excitement. You can’t wait to see what’s on offer. This complete beginner’s guide covers everything from the show’s history and how to buy tickets, to insider tips from someone who has actually exhibited there. Let me […]

Mediterranean gardens are the true sun worshippers of the garden design styles. Using plants that love full sun and earthy tones, these spaces can become an oasis of calm in your back garden. Even if you aren’t blessed with a south-facing garden, you can still steal some of the principles of the hot Mediterranean garden styles and […]