Want to make some changes in your garden but don’t want or need a full design, transformation or planting service?
Our Garden and Planting Consultations are for you. After our initial chat, our award-winning lead Jo will come and spend a few days with you in your garden space. Starting with establishing your hopes and dreams for your garden, the Consultation will then explore possibilities. Consultations usually focus on either overall Design or Planting and are flexible, to suit your space and needs.
In all cases, we will discuss:
People: Who will use your garden and how? Do you want an elegant space for outdoor dining with friends, a robust space that can withstand a football or bike bumping into it? An accessible space, with raised beds surrounded by wide, step free paths?
Place: Where are you, and which direction does your garden face in? Do you have lots of sun, or shade - would you like to create more of either? What is the soil like, what would do well in your new garden?
Styling: Traditional Cottage Garden or Sleek Modern Contemporary? Water features or ponds? Grass, paving, gravel? Perhaps you want to create a hidden nook somewhere, or frame a particular plant or view. Fixed seating or paved areas to use in multiple ways?
Animals: Do you have pets? How will they use your garden - are there plants to avoid, or include? What about wildlife - do you want to encourage it into, or discourage it from entering your space?
Planting: What trees, shrubs, or other plants do you have that you want to keep? What care do they need? What new plants would you like to have? Do you want to create a mood or particular style with plants - perhaps Japanese, Mediterranean, English Country?
Problems: What problems do you have in your garden now and what are the ideal solutions? Are there tricky slopes, sheds, structures or nearby buildings you’d like to hide? A shady place you’d like to open up, a sunny place you’d like to enjoy more?
Maintenance: How much maintenance do you want to do after your garden is created? Whether that’s low, some, or lots, we can advise on how to achieve it.
Then, looking at books, magazines or examples online, and our portfolio of previous work, we will suggest materials, structures and plants to create the space you dream of.
You are free to take your own notes during this Consultation, and at the end of the Garden Expert Consultation we will leave you with with non technical drawings and sketches, and lists of plants, which will enable you to make the changes agreed at the start of the Consultation.