As a professional horticulturist, I provide a service that caters to all, regardless of the size of their garden. My intent is to empower my clients to maximise the potential of their outdoor spaces. My garden consultancy services are flexible and can be tailored to your specific requirements, whether it's a one-time visit or a series of consultations, depending on the size and scope of your garden project.
DESIGN IDEAS AND LAYOUT CHANGE
If you're looking to revamp the layout of your outdoor space and breathe new life into it, I can help you reimagine its design. You may not need a full garden design but just some clear instructions on how to improve areas of your garden. The “before and after” images on this page are a very good example of how transformative these types of consultation can be.YEAR-ROUND APPEAL
If you desire a garden that boasts beauty and interest throughout all seasons, I can provide insights on plant selection and design principles to achieve year-round visual delight.
For example, specific advice on planting ideas can significantly enhance a flower bed.SPECIAL OCCASION PREPARATION
When you have a special event on the horizon and want your garden to shine, I can assist you in preparing your outdoor space to make it a memorable backdrop for your celebration.NEW GARDEN CHALLENGES
If you've recently moved to a new home with a garden that needs attention, my expertise can guide you in tackling the challenges of starting anew, helping you make the most of your new outdoor space.PRUNING ADVICE
As a former National Trust Head Gardener I can g ive advice on pruning and other horticultural tasks. Rose, wisteria and hydrangea are often plants that can confuse people on how to manage them properly, pruning in particular.
Sometimes, all it takes is an unbiased perspective to spark fresh ideas and provide a renewed outlook on your garden. Whether you're seeking a single consultation or a series of visits, I'm here to offer the guidance and expertise you need to embark on your garden transformation journey. If you're not in need of a complete garden overhaul but seek guidance and expertise to improve your existing garden or your flower borders, a garden consultation is the perfect starting point on your journey towards a more vibrant outdoor space.
Pricing. One hour consultation costs £70 (no VAT) plus travelling expenses at 45p/mile for a round trip if your property is outside a 10 mile radius from TN12 0HQ.
Fees are payable at the time of booking.
These images below are good examples of what a consultation can achieve.
When I saw this garden I immediately thought that it could have been significantly improved with the simple removal of the two large conifers. I suggested the client should eliminate these two very dominant evergreen trees (which would have grown even higher) to give the garden not only more light but an increased sense of spaciousness. I used a simple design technique I had learned when working in Japan in 2004, called "shakkei" or borrowed landscape. It works very well when a garden is surrounded by beautiful views. The result is very effective: the ash tree outside the garden, now being very visible, seems to belong to the garden itself. Furthermore, this tree now resonates with another ash tree in the long distance, taking our eye outside the garden and making it seem much larger than it really is. Also, the neighbour's beautiful willow is now fully incoporated into the picture. The fact that along the fence there are many plants, makes the division between the two properties less obvious, thus, again, bringing visually the adjacent garden into my client's one. I also advised my client to plant more plants to cover the fence and further enhance the illusion of the two gardens being visually united, therefore theirs looking larger.
In this second case my intervention was of pure horticultural nature. In order to increase the flowering potential of the beautiful Rosa 'Gertrude Jekyll' I used a technique called pegging down (also called bending down) which I learned years ago from my old friend Troy Scott Smith, Head Gardener at Sissinghurst. If you visit this world famous garden in June, you will see many examples of this spectacular method. It is a very simple but extremely effective technique which involves bending the rose canes and tieing them to woodden pegs in the ground and to curved canes made from hazelwood. You can see how, before my intervention, the majority of the few flowers are concentrated on the top. By bringing the canes close to the horizontal position induces the formation of many laterals which produce many more flowers along a larger part of the rose.