The winter garden often looks drab, unloved and uncared for – the blaze of summer and autumn plants has dried and withered leaving a sorry tale of what came before. Most of us abandon the garden in the winter months in favour of the warmth of the fire inside reading books and endless reality TV programmes! Take a look around you – I think you will find that there is plenty going on in the garden, so don’t just sit and wait for the daffodils to appear take a look at what is already brightening up your garden this winter.
Entries Tagged as 'Chippenham'
Garden Design | Nothing happening in the winter garden?
January 21st, 2012 No Comments
Tags: Bath · Chippenham · enjoy · garden design · gardening · Plant · snow · striking display · weather · Wiltshire
Garden Design | The winter months
November 14th, 2011 No Comments
Making the most of your garden in winter calls for the expertise of a garden designer. Many gardens seem to lose their appeal as the leaves drop and the perennials fade from their autumnal glory. What can be done to enliven and enrich your outdoor space as the evenings draw in?
Tags: Bath · Chippenham · enjoy · garden design · gardening · lifestyle · low maintenance · Plant · Wiltshire
Guest blog | Adding Solar Fountains to the Garden
August 25th, 2011 1 Comment
A beautiful garden is a place to marvel at nature, relax the mind, and entertain with family and friends. It’s a chance to show off all the hard work you’ve done, choosing just the right plants and creating the perfect arrangement to display them. But what if you’re looking to add a little something extra to your garden? Where do you turn? One of the best, most eco-friendly ways you can do that is by adding a solar fountain to your garden. Here are some things to consider when purchasing one.
Tags: Bath · benefit · Chippenham · imagination · low maintenance · reduced carbon · sunshine · Wiltshire
Gardening | Garden Design | Plants looking good – Verbena bonariensis
August 2nd, 2011 1 Comment
Verbena bonariensis is a design favourite. It fits well in to many types of planting scheme and isn’t too fussy about its position. It prefers a light bright sunny aspect as befits a plant that originates from Buenos Aires (bonariensis – and you thought that plant names were confusing!)
Tags: Bath · Chippenham · garden design · gardening · Inspiration · low maintenance · Plant · striking display · sunshine · Wiltshire
Garden Design | Making more of your borders
July 28th, 2011 No Comments
Do you sometimes look out at the garden and wish for something a bit different but aren’t quite sure what? You are not alone. The garden can become a bit like wallpaper that’s been around for a few years and it is suitably inoffensive and ‘does the job’.
Take a look at your garden – would it cheer you up to see some changes for the better? Feedback from my customers strongly suggests that you would – so don’t leave it any longer – we can start straight away!
Tags: Bath · Chippenham · enjoy · garden design · gardening · imagination · Inspiration · lifestyle · Plant · striking display · Wiltshire
Gardening | Garden Design | interesting plants – Eryngium tricuspidatum
July 19th, 2011 No Comments
Firstly the elaborate structure of the stems and leaves create a mesmerising pattern rising up from a flat pad of dark green leaves that look as though someone has etched the veins in a titanium dioxide rich white paint. The plant is semi evergreen and sends up these wonderful spikes of flower heads in the summer. They dry out and can provide good winter interest too. The second reason that this particular plant was smothered in the bright red soldier beetle which has acquired the name Hogweed Bonking Beetle! These bright red creatures spend most of their life doing – well – it!! They even feed and fly together and are seldom found alone. This summer the conditions seem to have been absolutely perfect for the beetle which has been seen in large numbers. The larvae are soil dweller and hunt for snails and other insects
Tags: Bath · Chippenham · garden design · gardening · Wiltshire
Garden Visits | The Veddw
July 14th, 2011 1 Comment
Visit to The Veddw I had made a point of not researching the garden before arrival so knew nothing about what to expect. The standard for the day had been set by our earlier visit… It is fair to say that as a garden designer I find the challenge of designing a garden for yourself is not always the easiest challenge so how had Anne & Charles fared?
The site in Monmouthshire near Tintern Abbey borders the Chepstow Park Woods might be described as challenging but you can see immediately that it has potential. My first impression was how well the garden blended with its surrounding environment, drawing you from the garden to the open landscape.So have Anne and Charles created a garden worthy of merit? Does their Borders Idyll stand up a as garden that deserves any accolade? They have managed to do a number of things very well, including making it personal, having respect for the history of the site, incorporating it in to the landscape and stamping their own very indelible mark upon it. They make no excuses for it. But don’t take my word for it and don’t look at the pictures and pass judgement. Gardens are for visiting in the flesh. Be prepared to be challenged. This is not ‘just another garden’ garden. I look forward to returning.
Tags: Bath · Chippenham · garden design · garden visit · gardening · Tim Matcham · Wiltshire
Gardening | Corsham Gardeners’ Question Time
July 6th, 2011 No Comments
t is fair to say we had no real idea what to expect or how to go about our first attempt – what sort of questions were we going to be asked? How could we prepare for every eventuality? How many books would we need to help us? How dry could we stay? Would anyone have any questions for us?
Our fears were soon banished as people braved the weather and came forward with their questions. There were plenty for Michelle on growing vegetables and fruit which is really encouraging – particularly as this was a food festival! Although some were rather unexpected – Can you grow Apples & Pears in Bangladesh? I bet the real Gardeners’ Question Time never had a question like that! We reasoned that it was probably too hot and that they should stick to citrus!
Tags: Bath · Chippenham · Corsham · gardening · Plant · weather · Wiltshire
Gardening | Garden Design | great plants – Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn’
February 28th, 2011 No Comments
As we wait with latent expectation for those wonderful heralds of the spring garden to finally break cover and shower us with golden cheerfulness there are some plants that have been keeping a quiet watch over the winter months.
The Viburnum group is a remarkable collection of varied plants and I often wonder whether it would be possible to design a garden that only featured Viburnum in all of its assorted guises. Viburnum tinus ‘Eve Price’ is a popular choice of many schemes but is rather prone to Viburnum beetle which quickly reduce the leaves to a rather scrappy looking lace skeleton – a problem that is duplicated in others such as the V.opulus.
Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn’ isn’t affected but since it flowers before the leaves are present this somehow seems less of an issue!
Tags: Bath · Chippenham · enjoy · garden design · gardening · Wiltshire
Gardening | Garden Design | Book review – Residential Garden Design with Vectorworks Landmark 2011
December 31st, 2010 1 Comment
Luckily help is at hand for at least one of these programmes. Now in its third edition, ‘Residential Garden Design with Vectorworks Landmark’ by Tamsin Slatter, gives garden designers a clear, descriptive and illustrated guide to getting started with Vectorworks 2011.
Unlike the dreaded software manual, which covers every single aspect of Vectorworks whether you are a garden designer or landscape architect or an interior designer or architect, where some things will be relevant to you and others simply aren’t. Tamsin’s knowledge of both the market leading software and of garden design means that she is able to steer us towards the important, relevant aspects of the software and create a form of work-flow that can be referred to again and again.
Now we don’t need to be daunted by software manuals that are reminiscent of lengthy literary works. I would love to see this book shipping with the software so that everyone can benefit and would also welcome similar style books and accompanying exercises tackling more complex aspects of the software such as 3-D terrain modelling and perhaps some of the wonderful plug-ins that are now available for Vectorworks 2011.
Tags: 3D design · Bath · CAD · Chippenham · Computers Unlimited · garden design · Landmark · Nemetschek · Vectorworks · Wiltshire