Winter garden planning - you know it makes sense!

If you haven’t started thinking about your garden for this summer then now is the ideal time to get stuck in! My advice is that preparation and planning is what is crucial, so time spent carefully thinking about what you want from your outdoor space will make your garden the best it has ever been. Winter time is difficult for those of us who love to spend time in our gardens. We try to cheer ourselves up by endlessly flicking through those seed catalogues, which are by now heavily embossed with biro ticks or rushing out to the garden centre the minute the weather starts to pick up to buy trolleys full of plants, which turn out to be wholly unsuitable for the space you don’t really have! 
Hold fire on the quick fix plant buying - it can turn out be a costly mistake; start thinking instead about the structure and functionality of your garden and putting a plan together. Snuggle down on the sofa and start making lists of plants and plant combinations that you would like to include and look at books, other peoples gardens and the internet for inspiration. 

FutureScape the best bits...

Kempton Racecourse was the venue for this year’s FutureScape Landscape and Garden Designer trade exhibition and seminar programme. I went along with Avalon Landscapes’ very own Mick and Dan, to see what was new and interesting and hopefully to learn something too!

Here are my highlights of the show...

The latest collaborative project from Gardenplan Design and Avalon Landscapes; A two level terrace in Edgbaston

The terrace is finally complete - hurrah! We are waiting for the garden furniture to arrive from Spain and the planters to be filled and put in place. All this along with the maturing planting, will give the clients the outdoor space they're looking for.

Everyone, the client included, is really pleased with the results and the space feels light, bright and airy. The split level paved area, formed in beige sawn sandstone gives a contemporary feel and is a complimentary extension of the client's newly built kitchen/living space.

I am very delighted that the clients have now asked me to design the rest of their garden; I am confident  that adding more interest into the borders and paying careful consideration to the views beyond the patio will enhance their experience of the garden further. 

Berry Delicious

Plants with berries, fruit or coloured seeds can add blasts of sensational colour and interest to an autumn/winter garden; here’s a small selection.

 Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii 'Profusion'

Love it or hate it, this shrub (in my humble opinion) is a great addition to an autumn/winter border, It looks sensational combined with a showy white mop head Hydranger too. 
If you are looking for something different, and out-of-the-ordinary, this is the plant for you; its unusual purple-violet berries, look a tad artificial, as if a mad crafter has snuck into your garden overnight and glue-gunned, nail varnish painted, purple polystyrene balls to one of your plants! 
I love its iridescent quirky attributes, which always bring a smile to my face and cheer me up on a cold autumn 
day!   

Project: Terraced Patio Edgbaston - Designed by Gardenplan Design and constructed by Avalon Landscapes

Week 3
The terrace is finally coming together after a frustrating spell of bad weather. We, including the clients, are all really pleased with the results so far and the space is already feeling light, bright and airy. The split level paved area, formed in beige sawn sandstone to give a contemporary feel, is a complimentary extension of the clients newly built kitchen/living space. The wall will be rendered over today and tomorrow, which will progress the job nicely.

Bespoke bullnose stone step tread with light fitting in riser

Wildflowers in Vogue

Wildflowers are truly in vogue and have popped into my world on a number of occasions this year, leaving me both open-mouthed with delight and transported back to my childhood and my fascination with my local flora. As a child I lived in a small Derbyshire Village surrounded by hay meadows. I would spend hours searching out different varieties and identifying them for my pressed flower collection. I also liked to pick small posies of Clover, Penny Moons, Hair Bells, Yarrow, Buttercups and Lady's Smock, to give to my mum. In Summer there was always the ubiquitous bunch of wildflowers on the kitchen window sill spilling its ring of pollen.

I have been constantly surprised by wildflowers this year; not only on account of their sheer beauty and abundance but also encountering them in situations that I would never have imagined. I nearly crashed my car at the end of Broad Street as I craned my neck in disbelief to catch a glimpse of the central reservation full to bursting with the riotous colour of wildflowers. Birmingham City Council, steered by Sarah Raven's campaign to encourage and preserve our wildlife by planting indigenous wildflowers, experimented with the inclusion of meadow planting in this year's 'Birmingham in Bloom', display. I hope they decide to persevere with using wildflowers, as I find them a welcome change to the omnipresent and over-showy bedding plants.

Then there were the Olympics! Never mind the lightning displays of the likes of Usain Bolt, and the mighty achievements of Team GB. What about the Olympic Park itself where the area equivalent to more than ten football fields have been planted with wildflowers from Norfolk. It took two years of experimentation to ensure the best display possible and timed to the minute to produce a ribbon of gold around the stadium. This shows true innovation and showcases the creator’s sustainability and ecology policy while forming the future legacy of the site. This to me is a true British achievement!

 Read more about the Olympic planting to encourage wildlife here in an article from the London News 

Interesting plants for your garden in August

Here are a collection of photographs taken in my garden today, 18 August 2012, of flowering trees,shrubs and perennials. You may wish to use these plants to add interest to your own garden.

White Agapanthus and Hosta - a lovely combination

White Agapanthus and Hosta - a lovely combination

Verbascum chaixii - A splendid tall and upright perennial ideal for a sunny border.

Verbascum chaixii - A splendid tall and upright perennial ideal for a sunny border.