Follow the weekly diary of a London Garden Design Company:

Katrina was contacted this week by a couple looking for a landscaper in Leyton. They bought their house 4 years ago, and inherited a garden which had been built in stages by the previous owner who had used a combination of rubble and salvaged items to create quite a haphazard space with several levels. The client has a set budget to which we need to design. They would like to get an indication of possible costs before commissioning a garden design, so Matt will be meeting the client on Tuesday to view the garden.

We were also contacted by a couple who would like a design for their London roof garden overlooking the Thames Barrier. They bought their penthouse apartment in August and have recently completed the interior, and are now looking to renovate the exterior ready for the summer. Katrina visited them this week and sketched out some ideas, they will coming back to us when they are ready to proceed with the design.

Matt has installed a new sedum roof on the garden office for our clients in Hackney, as the finishing touch to the garden he worked on towards the end of last year. The original sedum roof had died due to needed the roof re-laying as part of the garden renovations.

Matt is in the process of putting together a quote for a property developer. It is a large planting project for a site in Bow, East London

Matt will also be going to meet a prospective client in Bushey, Hertfordshire. He has a design which he commissioned from another garden designer, and has asked us to provide a quote for the build.

We have commissioned a garden postal design for a client for their garden in East London. They are planning to build the garden themselves, so decided that they do not require a full design package.

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Katrina has finished the garden design for Leytonstone and went to present that this week. Feedback was good. The cleitns are working on theior interior over the Spring, with work commenecing in the next few weeks, and will look to complete the garden in the autumn once the interior project is completed.

Snow has really slowed things down across all sites this week, with Matt being unable to get anything much done as dry weather is required for painting and staining. He has taken advantage of this to write some Blog postings and get on top of his paperwork.

Studio g has published the last episode of our Harrow garden on their blog, it has been recieved well and they are keen to publish another garden as well as start to feature our What’s on the Board article. Comments of the Concept to completion story have included ‘Enjoying Katrinas posts. Her website is so lively and well designed, showcasing the work. So talented!’. If you like garden design blogs and have the time, do stop by to have a read of the Studio g, it’s one of the best garden design blogs out there at the moment.

We have also featured on Home and Landscape design fix. They have published our garden in Kent which we completed last year and some lovely comments have been left including ‘What a beautiful space to spend time in!’. They too have asked for another garden to publish and are keen to build a blogger relationship with us.

Work on Romania continues. As they are under a metre of snow they are happy for us to proceed with the measuremetns we have and draw up from there. We are not required to produce a scope of works, or quantities, so product placement in the space with unclear dimension, while dicey, should be OK.

Matt has completed a standard scope of works landscapers and garden designers to use. One of the hardest thing for most garden designers is providing clients with a scope of work and a budget, so Matt has worked hard with a garden designer in Manchester to try and refine and simplfy this process in order that she can use a standard documents adapted for each project. If you are interested in this document, please feel free to contact Matt for more information.

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The client has recently purchased this Victorian town house and plans to renovate over the summer. The garden is to all intents a blank canvas. The client decided to commission a garden design before spending money on plants and landscaping, to avoid having to change things at a later date.

The garden is near a busy road and quite overlooked, an issue that must be addressed in the design. The client’s three children would like provision for a trampoline and also a fish pond, as there is one at their current address which the whole family enjoy. They would also like a secure garage to safely store their trailer and bikes at the bottom of the garden.

This design is based on Art Nouveau shapes typical of the era in which the house was built. The intention is to undertake the interior re-fit in a style that is in keeping with the period of the house, and therefore the garden design follows similar themes, providing a family space with a nod towards present day trends.

There are a few practical issues which needed consideration in the design. The bottom of the garden will be dedicated to storage and utility, with a large, freestanding concrete garage unit to store the family’s trailer and 6 bikes. This unit will be large enough to also provide dedicated space for a small workshop. Provision for a utility area containing a water butt and compost bin has been made to the right of the garage. The garage and utility area will be screened from the rest of the garden, with gates allowing access directly into the garage through a side door, or into the utility area. Access to the road adjacent to the bottom of the garden will be through the boundary fence.

The rest of the garden will be given over to entertaining, relaxing and playing, as well as sharing the space with some urban wildlife. Directly adjoining the house will be a large Indian sandstone patio, shaped along its front edge into a gentle wave that undulates across the space. Set into the patio will be a circle of contrasting coloured paving. A pathway, constructed from the same stone as the circle inlay, spirals out into the garden and forms a sweeping arc down to the doorway to the garage at the bottom. Both patio and path will be edged with sandstone setts.

Adjacent to the patio will be a pond, designed to encourage wildlife. Constructed to appear naturally formed, it will feature a plethora of aquatic and marginal plants and will be dressed with natural slate rocks to form a waterfall through which to water will be pumped to distract from the traffic noise of the nearby road.

A series of rounded landscape poles, set at intervals into flowerbeds to the right of the curved path, give the garden height and a sense of architectural drama. The poles will decrease in height in 1/4 metre intervals, from 3 metres down to 2m, and could be used as supports for climbing plants. A Cherry Tree will be planted, again to give the garden height and aid with privacy and screening. Screening and interest will also be provided by stainless steel mesh panels installed between landscape poles to either side of the pathway.

In the bottom right of the garden a paved circle, cuffed by a regiment of landscape poles, will provide space for a swing seat, with a small gap in the poles giving access to stepping stones that lead to the garage/utility area at the bottom of the garden.

The bottom left corner of the garden will accommodate a large trampoline. This too will be screened from the rest of the garden with landscaping poles, and could be further hidden if desired by encouraging fast growing climbers to colonise the poles. The garage area will be screened by a decorative timber fence.

Planting in the space will be have a predominantly soft, cottage style, with long flowering perennials sitting amongst evergreen shrubs and hardy climbers to provide year round interest and colour.

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A cheap and easy way to give your garden a designed look is by using cobbles and pebbles as a feature. Fill wire gabions with stones to create decorative seats, or to make stylish looking planters. Piles of pretty rocks or stones nestled between planting like mini-cairns can be quite effective. Remove individual slabs in a patio, or boards in a deck, and fill with stones for an unusual feature. Use a layer of cobbles or beach pebbles as mulch for your planting beds or as a dressing to make your planters and pots look their best. Stones also make a great filler for decorative alcoves in timber screens, as you can see in the picture on the left, and work well as a dressing to a hide the ugly plastic reservoir that comes with many off-the-shelf water features. And of course a cobbled pathway will add a rustic charm to a cottage style garden design.

Always make sure your stones are responsibly sourced and don’t go taking bag loads of pebbles from your local beach – this could contribute to coastal erosion and may well get you into trouble with the local authority or beach owner…

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Katrina continues to work on the Garden Design for Romania, they are now 1 metre under snow and its is -20 over there, so they have decided that the measurements are near enough and as most of the works will be product placement this shouldn’t cause to much of a problem.

Katrina has also been working hard building up relationships with other garden design blog writers, to see if a mutually agreeable relationship can be fostered and we can work with other sites to provide them with great content and images for their sites.

Another project has been re-drawn for the portfolio. Katrina was keen when compiling the new hard copy garden design portfolio, that the design process what representative of work that is produced now. In the light of 9 years (9 years!!!) of business, technology and working practises have developed quite considerable, so a lot of our early projects, even as recently as a few years ago, was all drawn by hand, so Katrina is going back over old ground to re-draw and garden design plans using computer software. It actually makes for an interesting process, and helps Katrina with learning the software further still and new tricks to employ when drawing up plans.

Katrina was contacted by a potential client for a garden design in Brixton, for a autistic child. They were contacting us on behalf of another family member who had three children, one of them being autistic. Katrina talked them through some options for the approach to the design process, given that they were to be assisted with funding and weren’t sure how much they were going to get, therefore were reluctant to commit to a design package. We talk creativity about options and requirements for all members of the family, including the parents. It would be a lovely project and a new challenge, so hopefully the funding body will give some clarity to the level of support the family can expect and we can start thinking of some idea.

A client with a London roof terrace on the 17th floor overlooking the Thames barrier park, called to book in a consultation. They found us via a web-search an particularly like our style and wish to create a garden similar to the one we did in Wapping a few years ago. They have just had their interior re-designed and so are now turning their attentions to the outside space.

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This design seeks to create a sleek and contemporary space, offering a host of funky visual stimuli and extensive opportunity for enjoyment throughout the year. A recurring oval or elliptical theme will help to unify the space and give the design a stylised and individual feel

The garden will be completely cleared and re-fenced along its left-hand and rear boundaries with new 6 ft fencing and matching gate. The area directly outside the back door will be decked in attractive and durable Western Red Cedar, with a series of 50cm deep terraced steps leading the client up to the garden proper where a large flush-level oval shaped decking patio takes centre stage. Also constructed from Red Cedar boards, this deck will be large enough to accommodate a variety of seating options with space for the client to add a chimenea for warmth on chilly autumn evenings. The deck will feature a 1 metre high curved stainless steel water wall, installed in a cut-out towards the deck’s ‘pointed end’. It will also benefit from a curved fixed-bench seat installed on one side, constructed from unusual wire gabions (50cm cubes constructed from thick galvanised mesh) filled with granite setts and topped with Red Cedar boards. Framing this bench, and running the entire length of the left ‘side’ of the oval deck, a curved rendered block wall with oval cut-out will create a unique focal point and visually arresting conversation piece.

To the right of the oval deck, a slim path constructed from smooth granite setts will curve its way through the space, leading the client through an oval-shaped lawn to the gate at the bottom of the space. The path will also bisect an elliptical stone patio, surrounded by a series of tall landscaping poles set vertically at intervals around its edge. These poles will allow the client to display fabric drops imparting movement, colour and drama to the space, while giving the paving area a sense of privacy and enclosure. The off-centre circular slab will be left out of the oval patio to accommodate the planting of a ‘Prunus Okame’ (cherry tree), which in time will give additional shade to the space.

Planting in the space is bold and funky using pink, red and orange shrubs, herbaceous plants and perennials to create year round interest. An ‘Acer palmatum Sango-kaku‘ will make a  welcome replacement to the existing lilac adding a touch of the orient, while Phormium ‘Maori Sunrise’ planted in large stainless steel planters placed on either side of the decked steps will frame the entrance to the garden. The fences, both old and new, will be softened and obscured by the addition of a variety of climbers planted throughout the space.

Finally, a comprehensive lighting scheme will complete the design and allow for continued enjoyment of the space when the sun goes down. Oval shaped white micro LED lights installed within the risers of the terraced steps will safely guide the client into the garden. The seating area on the oval deck will be illuminated by two adjustable stainless steel spotlights installed on at either end of the curved feature wall, while ground level spotlights installed on either side of the water feature turn it into an eye-catching nocturnal focal point . This area will be further illuminated by a set of oval LED lights installed in the front of the gabion bench seat.

Lighting at the other end of the space will consist of fixed-head stainless steel down-lighters installed at the top of the display posts (1 per post) to give ample light to the paving area while making a feature of each individual post. To finish the scheme, a series of low-voltage spotlights placed within the planting beds create a subtle wash across the space while serving to highlight individual plant specimens.

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Matt has had a slow week on site due to the weather, as most of the jobs he needs to complete on the garden design and build in Bethnal Green , such as painting walls and sheds, require a dry day. He has fixed some lighting and completed the planting, however.

Katrina has been working on the postal garden design for our clients in Tadworth Surrey. The client has a relatively new house and wanted a curvy garden design to self-build over the coming year. Click on the link to read the details of this landscape design in Surrey.

Katrina has run into a few complications for our garden design in Romania, as some of the measurements supplied by the client don’t seem to make sense. Katrina has emailed the client a layout asking them to complete the dimensions. Once she has these dimensions hopefully it will be plain sailing.

Updates continue on both our web-site and our garden design portfolio. The job is a long and laborious one and attention to detail takes it toll on concentration. We have several new projects to add to both our web-site and portfolio as well as updating all our magazine articles. If anyone has any comments regarding our web-site it would be great to have some feedback.

Matt has been asked to produce a quote to replace some garden decking and fencing in Holloway, North London.

We have also been contacted by a multi-media communications company based in Shoreditch, East London, to provide a quote for a temporary roof garden for an event they are holding in July. They require a long deck and pergola built over a shallow bespoke water feature. The roof terrace is on a 5 storey building with limited access, and they would require the project to be completed in 5 days prior to the event, so it would be an interesting and challenging project.

Katrina was contacted with regard to a small garden design in West Hampstead. The client has a small son and wishes to create a safe outdoor environment for him to play. They would like to remove the existing paving and replace it with decking and artificial lawn. He is in discussion with his wife as to whether they require a design lead approach, adding more into the space, or whether they would like to follow a more practical approach and scale down their plans for the garden to allow funds for the interior renovation of their new property.

Katrina is taking bookings for her garden design courses. The next batch of courses will take place in the Spring and are beneficial for both trained garden designers and students alike.

The guys at popular garden design blog, Studio ‘g’, have run another fantastic feature on Earth Designs this month. Click here to read the post.

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This postal garden design has just been completed for a client in Tadworth, Surry. The property was built in 1988 and has a garden that is already landscaped but is looking tired and outdated. The couple have a new baby, so are looking for a design that is family friendly. There are several mature trees and an acer palmatum to be retained in the new design. The clients would like a clean simple look, and have an affinity with Japanese gardens. There are a few level changes in the garden addressed in the re-design. The client requires a low maintenance garden suitable for entertaining and relaxations, including a paved area with space for BBQ and a children’s play area which can easily be seen from house. The garden also needs refencing. They expressed a preference for a curved garden design. This will be a self-build project and the client has a low budget.

We sent the client three concept sketches from which they could choose their preferred layout:

Surrey Postal Garden Design concept sketch 1

Surrey Postal Garden Design concept sketch 2

Surrey Postal Garden Design concept sketch 3

They opted for scamp number 3, and requested minor changes, such taking the squaring off the patio by the house back to the house and enlarging the children’s play lawn. The final design has a curved patio adjoining the house, with a flush planting bed to the left. An archway and step up lead to an elliptical lawn to house children’s play equipment, with a flush bed on the right. Another arch leads to a second lawn which is level with the first lawn. An arced pathway sweeps down the left hand side of the garden, leading from the main patio adjoining the house to a paved circle at the bottom of the garden. At the beginning 0f this pathway are 3 timber arches, with a further 3 arches straddling the path about two thirds along its length. A large raised bed 50cm high stretches down the left side following the curve of the path to address the level change in this section of the garden.

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