Planning a garden

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 […]

If you have heavy clay soil and shade, your go-to plants will be hostas, ferns, astilbes, hellebores, hydrangeas, and hardy geraniums, all of which thrive in exactly the conditions many gardeners dread. These plants have evolved in moisture-retentive, nutrient-rich clay environments and tolerate low light levels perfectly, making them ideal for the UK’s many shaded, […]

🌿 Quick Answer To design a front garden, start by surveying your space for sunlight, soil type, and size. Define whether you need parking, privacy, or planting as your priority. Choose a style — cottage, formal, or low maintenance — then sketch a layout balancing hard landscaping with at least one third planting. Select layered […]

The short answer is that neither approach is universally better. What suits your garden depends on your soil, budget, mobility, the plants you want to grow, and frankly, how much effort you’re willing to put in upfront. Let me explain why you would choose a raised bed or growing directly in the ground so that […]

After presenting over 60 gardens on BBC Garden Rescue, viewers always ask me the same question: “How do you come up with designs so quickly?” The truth is, there’s a systematic process I use on every single project, the same one I teach in my online courses. Let me pull back the curtain and show […]

Working out which direction a garden faces is one of the first things I do when I’m designing new gardens as a garden designer. I do this before anything else, and I am going to explain why every gardener needs to follow this step! After decades of designing gardens, this is the one thing that even […]

Every single winter, I get messages from panicked gardeners who’ve woken up to find their gorgeous pots cracked like eggshells and their prize plants looking like they’ve made a break for it! It’s absolutely gutting, especially when you’ve spent good money on both the plants and the containers. However, most of this carnage is completely […]

There’s a colour that British gardeners chronically underuse, and it’s the boldest, most dramatic one in the entire palette: vibrant, passionate, show-stopping red! Now, I know what you’re thinking. Red’s too loud, too in-your-face, too risky for proper garden design. Absolute nonsense! Red flowers are the ultimate statement makers, and they deserve way more space […]

There’s a colour and plant type that’s criminally underused in British gardens: bright, vibrant, in-your-face yellow flowers! Now, I know what you’re thinking. Everyone and their nan goes for the safe pastels, the gentle pinks and soft purples. But what you may not know is that yellow flowers are absolute show-stoppers in terms of garden […]

Staring out at your perfectly square garden through those patio doors, you might be feeling distinctly uninspired. That predictable rectangle of lumpy turf bordered by fence panels on all sides probably looks less like a garden and more like a green prison yard, especially if it’s one of those typical new build plots where developers […]