Garden Design

T he creation of wonderful places using plants - otherwise know as Garden Design - is threaded through everything we do - the choice of plants we grow, the way we present them on the nursery, the advice we dispense and the ideas we propose. Architectural Plants is about shape - an obsession with the sculptural qualities of plants where strong, eye catching outlines, delicious textures and combined shades of green, rule.

H and in hand with this sculptural/textural/verdant thing must come the question - ‘Yes, but how do I bring it about?’ Put at its very simplest, take Kenneth Williams’ advice - ‘Be bold Mr. Horne!’ There are a number of fundamentals that we use as guides when helping people design their gardens (big plants at the back, small plants at the front) but none come as high up the list as Be Bold and Avoid Being Timid. Avoid it like the plague. Nobody ever created an interesting garden by being timid. In fact, nobody ever created anything of interest by being timid. Being bold - massive swathes of the same plant, avenues, rows, stilted hedges, planting trees that get ‘too big’ and trees in the ‘wrong’ place - all require, I admit, a degree of recklessness, courage and confidence. If you feel you may be positively predisposed to such a concept, we can help. Our job is to encourage people to do interesting things with their garden - if you feel you may be teetering on the edge of doing something interesting, please allow us to at least talk to you about giving you a shove over the edge.

The Procedure
Boring But Important

If you like the idea of Architectural Plants helping you with your garden, phone us up to make an appointment to visit whichever nursery is convenient. It’s then our job to decide who among the staff is right for you for the kind of garden you want - usually Angus White or Christine Shaw.

If possible, bring any plans you have available and photos of your garden (either printed or on a digital camera) that include the following views :

• of the garden from the house
• of the house from the garden
• from upstairs
• from downstairs
• of your neighbours’ gardens (they’re often a part of your garden whether you like it or not)
• and most importantly, views of the access.

We then sit down with a coffee and a biscuit and talk about your horticultural likes and dislikes and begin to throw ideas around with the aid of one of the computers containing hundreds of photos of our plants and gardens that we’ve designed, built and maintained. Also, we can take an aerial view of your garden on ‘google maps’ that has a nifty little gadget for taking measurements and is of great assistance in getting the lay of the land.

All this will cost you nothing and can be good fun but before going any further here’s a good opportunity to emphasise the nature of the kind of garden we do : it could be mighty formal or it could be amazingly exotic but within that spectrum, the emphasis will always be on the sculptural - strong, eye catching shapes, beautiful textures and bold use of plants. It’s all to do with shapes, shades and textures - not just colour. Trying to have an engaging conversation with Angus White about colourful herbaceous borders could be a troubling and deeply unrewarding experience but get him on avenues, pleached hedges, groves, outrageous topiary and serious jungles and things could get interesting.

The subject of costs will always be addressed at this stage too. Without any great precision we’ll be able to give you some idea of the cost of site visits, the plants, the planting and if required, the maintenance.

If that sounds like your cup of tea, pay us a visit but please remember, phone us first to make an appointment.