Water is central to many gardens. Japanese gardens have natural pools with stepping stones and bridges and geometric Persian paradise gardens have formal rills. By including a water feature in your garden, you can turn an ordinary garden into a far more enticing space. We have just completed a garden in East Lothian with a contemporary [...]
We all love getting outdoors on those balmy summer days and chilling out with a glass of wine as the sausages sizzle on the barbecue on the sun-drenched patio. However Scottish summers can be all too fleeting. How good would it be to enjoy the outdoors, without getting soaked to the skin, hypothermia or your [...]
We have just wound our clocks forward for spring and can shake off that duvet we have been hibernating under. Fling open the shutters and breathe the fresh air. Enjoy the vibrant world springing back to life. At last we can enjoy those long light evenings! Spring is also the start of the Japanese [...]
Mien Ruys Garden Earlier this month, a group of us garden designers had a sneaky trip to the Netherlands to visit Mien Ruys garden for a bit of garden design inspiration. Mien Ruys was an exceptional and inspirational garden designer and she is a true icon of mine. She studied garden architecture in Berlin in the 1920s [...]
I spent an inspiring day last week wondering round the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show. The show gardens were jam-packed with landscaping ideas, sublime planting schemes and new plants. These garden ideas can easily be taken home and used in our own gardens. The Red Thread Garden First of all, wondering through the Conceptual Gardens, [...]
Too much of a good thing... I’m sure we’ve all guzzled on too many sweets and chocolates that have been cloying and hollow pleasure. They leave us feeling quite sick at the end of the day. In contrast, we may prefer to nibble on snacks with a more savoury note such as cheese, olives and [...]
Is your garden looking drab and uninspiring at the moment? You may have planned it over the summer months while outside enjoying the sunshine. If you can make your garden look good in winter, it is likely to look great throughout the year. Here are 5 tips for creating a garden that looks good - [...]
Last week green issues were making headline news. The nations of the world put their heads together at the climate change summit in Paris. They were attempting to come up with green initiatives for curbing carbon emissions and tackling global warming. Closer to home, we witnessed some of the effects of climate change. Storm Desmond [...]
I would say that the most memorable gardens I have visited are ones that evoke a real sense of spirituality. It is hard to put a finger on how the garden makers have achieved this. It doesn’t seem to bare any relation to the price of the materials used in creating the garden. One of [...]
A couple of years ago I created a rose garden in a cemetery in central Edinburgh. As a result, this has fired up a passion for these enchanting shrubs that my grandmother always adored. She had a beautiful English country garden where she and my grandfather introduced me to a few of their favourites back [...]
