Garden Design Styles

I’m an award-winning garden designer specialising in the Manchester, Liverpool, Southport and Cheshire areas of the North West of England, specifically small, awkward or unconventional gardens. I love problem gardens and love to use my creative design and problem-solving to make incredible spaces for customers. I have a passion for good design with plants, and alongside […]

Quick answer: Free and paid garden design templates are a genuinely affordable way to get started, from around £30 for a set of professionally drawn options, but they’re generic by nature and won’t account for your garden’s specific soil, aspect or shape. A bespoke garden design starts from £2,500 and is built entirely around your […]

Quick answer: Becoming a garden designer means building real plant knowledge, choosing formal study or self-teaching (ideally a mix of both), building a portfolio through real projects for yourself, friends or family, then gaining experience through work or volunteering. There’s no single required qualification. Many designers, myself included, learn through practical courses and hands-on experience […]

Quick Answer There is no single route to becoming a garden designer, since it is not a regulated profession in the UK. The most reliable path combines classroom or online courses for foundational design and plant knowledge, books for structured theory, and volunteering with a professional designer for real world experience. A blend of formal […]

Quick Answer Yes, you can create a thriving garden on even the smallest, most exposed balcony. The secret is understanding your light, wind and weight conditions, choosing the right lightweight containers and compost, and editing your planting ruthlessly so each pot earns its place. With the right approach, herbs, vegetables, fruit and ornamental plants can […]

Quick Answer Designing a townhouse or terraced garden successfully comes down to three things: breaking the space into distinct zones, using vertical growing to maximise every centimetre of boundary, and choosing low-maintenance plants that earn their place in all four seasons. A small plot is never a barrier to a beautiful garden. With the right […]

BBC Garden Rescue designer Lee Burkhill reveals how to get privacy in an overlooked back garden using standard trees, pleached screens and clever planting.

Quick Answer A cottage garden is designed around dense, layered planting using a mix of roses, perennials, biennials, annuals, herbs, and climbers in an informal layout with curved beds and natural path materials. Start with a backbone of roses and structural shrubs, build layers from tall to low, choose a soft harmonious colour palette, and […]

Designing a family friendly garden that works for kids AND adults? BBC Garden Rescue designer Lee Burkhill shares expert zoning tips, DIY play features, safe plant choices and before-and-after examples. Free guide.

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 […]