PROJECTS GALLERY
GUEST HOUSE - POYNINGS
POYNINGS
Nestled within the rolling hills of the South Downs National Park is the village of Poynings. It is here that we were invited to update planting, create new garden beds and help manage the existing garden. The garden is expansive and mature and with that comes many inherited challenges such as run-off, flooding and shade cover. All of these challenges can be overcome with introducing suitable plants in the correct location and that’s what we delivered. The planting will be even more spectacular after a year in the ground but even in the first season the garden is responding well and looking great.
HOVE
We were approached by the owners of a recently refurbished house in Hove to brighten up their front garden and give it a coastal feel. The owner wanted a place to sit and catch the morning sun but the small garden was overgrown with plants for pollinators and structure for bird boxes. The soil was heavily contaminated with buried builders rubble and perennial weeds. It was the prospect of lots of excavation which resulted in the garden being left to overgrow for years.
We introduced a creative mixture of evergreen and herbaceous planting to complement the existing screening plants and provided a seating area. After a lot of digging and trips to the recycling centre the effort was worth it as the owner is so pleased with the final result.
BEFORE
AFTER
FRONT GARDEN - HOVE
REAR GARDEN - NSW
AUSTRALIA
I had the pleasure of designing a water garden for a friend in Australia. The brief was to replace a large rectangle of lawn near the house with tough plants and create a Mediterranean inspired mini oasis.
The bubbling fountain in the centre of the bridge provides movement and serves as a wildlife drinking station. The low jet of water works great on hot ankles and also cools the pet canine in the intense Australian heat, it even has it has its own reservoir if the pond water gets low.
The owners wanted to freshen up some other garden beds at the front of the house, so we curated these by using a similar theme as the rear garden but packing more flowering varieties into the beds.
The late Beth Chatto championed the gravel bed planting movement in the UK and by including this inert media in designs it will help in times of any droughts and any water bans, which all gardeners should consider. Even plants that can cope with dry conditions will still benefit with a thick gravel mulch to retain moisture in extended dry and hot conditions.
PEACEHAVEN - COMING SOON
COMING SOON
Upon completion, this newly built family home in Peacehaven promises to offer modern comfort and convenience with all the latest amenities. Although small, the garden room is going to be a standout feature of the property and a contemporary retreat for the new owners.
We inherited a lower paved area and a sloping patch of lawn to transform, pretty much a ‘blank canvas’ to get to work on.
Our brief was to design an easy maintenance garden room with privacy planting, sun soaked terraces, garden beds for the client to personalise, a water feature and feature lighting for evening entertaining.
Situated directly off the internal living space, the garden room has to provide a wow factor all year round and be a welcoming area for the owners and guests.
Here is a sneak peak at what is to come.
PEACEHAVEN - COMING SOON
COMING SOON
This generous garden in Saltdean will encompass a blend of styles from around the world. The impressive views of the Sussex coast and the South Downs will undoubtedly enhance the finished gardens but this position also comes with challenges due to exposure.
To meet the client’s desire to have a coastal garden, a Japanese woodland garden and a hot garden full of bright colours we incorporated three themed gardens to envelope the house whilst being visually separated by distance.
The hard landscaping was mostly in place so we focussed on specifying suitable plants for the conditions and increasing plant diversity to the current sparsely planted grounds.
The gravel garden will be filled with drifts of hardy grasses, coastal and Mediterranean style plants that will hug the pathways.
Other new features include a stepped stone path adjacent to new raised banks of plants, statement trees and a lake of pumice pebbles surrounding moss like mounds will all add to the Japanese garden aesthetic.
The hot garden is to be filled with a variety of flowering and non flowering evergreen specimens and many bright colourful perennials and annuals. A raised water feature snuck in to the new design and this will provide bathing and aquatic habitats for native wildlife.
SALTDEAN - COMING SOON