This is a gentle renovation of a garden in South London.

My project brief was to re-purpose as much of the existing garden as possible. Crown lifting and thinning out a mature Olive tree and Japanese Maple.  The space is designed with low-maintenance, environment-friendly plants that prefer a mix of sun and shade.  The plants have architecture, colour and flowers throughout the year.  The plantings are a mix of grasses, shrubs and perennials that are predominantly evergreen.

A newly completed garden in London. A fun garden design of mine with two distinct spaces.   A lower level with a circular balau wood deck and curved retaining wall wiith steps that lead to an upper level comprising a lawn, planting borders and a stone path to the garden studio.  The eco-friendly garden studio is designed by Black Cat Architects.

The Alley Pocket Park is a project organised by the White Rock Neighbourhood Ventures.The park is located in the Alley behind Claremont, Trinity Triangle, Hastings.

I was asked to design and plant up a user-friendly pocket park for the Alley. To provide a space for social gatherings, entertainments and also a quiet space for relaxation. All of the plantings provide year-round interest with a mix of evergreen and deciduous trees, shrubs and perennials. The plants chosen are wildlife-friendly which provide food and shelter.

The design needed to be in keeping with the industrial nature of the Alley. We used rough timbers for the seating area and large planters on wheels which provide ample room for trees and plants to flourish.

Darren French and Colleen Dawson built the first phase and Darren has built the new awning, vegetable garden and additional planters.

Lee Dyer Designed and built these fantastic new gates for the Alley entrance.

This garden had a very steep bank with difficult-awkward steps leading up to the house. We completely redesigned the garden by terracing the bank with brick and oak timbered retaining walls to provided a safe, complimentary and user-friendly set of steps up to the house. We also made sure to include wildlife-friendly planting schemes. It was very important to include a pond for the frogs, newts, stickle-back fish, bathing birds, dragonflies, foxes and badgers!

The brief for this London garden was that it be wildlife-friendly but also offer a fun yet practical space for the homeowners. We repurposed many on-site materials. Making sure that storage, a compost area and a place for the washing line was all fitted into the design.

Plants include the lovely Amelanchier and a multi-stem Silver Birch. The Silver Birch alone can support up to 250 species of birds and insects. Other plantings include a mix of evergreen and herbaceous plants. The circular wildlife pond has a crescent-shaped beach area for smaller creatures to use the pond too.

This garden was planted late autumn 2018.

Hard landscaping installed by Phil Franklin and his team. Phil Franklin Landscapes

A selection of projects from large estate gardens to small rooftop terraces here in the UK and the USA.

A new build bungalow in Hastings, East Sussex.  Starting from scratch. The garden design required low maintenance and robust plantings, not only to look good but also stand up to strong and often salt-laden winds.

Painting the fence a pale sage green helps to reflect the natural light but also provides a more suitable backdrop for the climbing roses and vines.