An old (cut) rose in a Wandsworth garden
Wednesday, 07 January 2015
by caroline
- Published in Caroline's favourite flowers
Cobbles in a residential Clapham garden – fabulous effect!
Wednesday, 07 January 2015
by caroline
There is absolutely no point in trying to explain in exact detail how to lay cobbles in general as you can find this information on the exceptional site offered by the Paving Expert – see the link below. At the end of the page I have given rough dimensions for our specific build, but really
- Published in Gardens Designed
Wreaths and garlands for Christmas
Wednesday, 19 November 2014
by caroline
Once again I am making beautiful wreaths and garlands for Christmas. Here are some examples of the wreaths that I make. For a medium sized wreath I charge £42. They are entirely traditional and are covered in gourds, berries, cinnamon sticks, cones etc. For the garlands I will charge £48 per metre and most mantelpieces
- Published in Uncategorized
Choose a good landscape contractor
Sunday, 02 November 2014
by caroline
I am a garden designer and more to the point I am a very lucky garden designer as I am married to a very good landscape contractor, Peter Garland of Townscapes Landscape contractors https://www.carolinegarland.com/ Why is this particularly lucky? 10 good reasons: It doesn’t matter how clever and detailed your garden design is, if you
- Published in Gardens in Progress
Garden design: Steps in Balham, Belgravia, Wandsworth, Battersea and Fulham
Thursday, 09 October 2014
by caroline
“Garden design” tends to conjure up a picture of grand designs and fanciful creativity but very often the London or urban garden designer finds themself dealing with the technical minutiae of building steps and retaining walls with obviously a good deal of paving and brickwork thrown in for good measure. Here I deal with steps.
- Published in Gardens Designed
How wrong can a London garden designer be? My Balham client knew best!
Wednesday, 08 October 2014
by caroline
Cladding How wrong can a designer be?! My Balham client knew best! The original retaining wall in this sloping garden was nearer to the house (the owners having built out into the garden for a big kitchen extension) and so to create a patio area we had to push back the garden quite considerably behind
- Published in Gardens Designed, Gardens in Progress
Oudolf Field – Hauser & Wirth Somerset – a good day out!
Tuesday, 30 September 2014
by caroline
I had a lovely day in Bruton with a girlfriend. We started at the Chapel for lunch http://www.atthechapel.co.uk/ and then moved on to Hauser & Wirth http://www.hauserwirthsomerset.com/exhibitions up the hill which is at Durslade Farm. Durslade Farm was a collection of grade 11 listed farm buildings that had fallen into disrepair. Working closely with Paris
- Published in Gardens Visited
Tom Stuart-Smith’s garden: Barn Hill in Hertfordshire
Sunday, 21 September 2014
by caroline
Last week I visited Tom Stuart-Smith’s garden in Hertfordshire. I caught it just in time as the prairie garden was coming to an end BUT there were still a lot of wonderful specimens and also some Rudbeckia seedheads which were magnificent in their own right. This day was organised by the Garden Museum at Lambeth
- Published in Gardens Visited
I’m in love with my oak leafed hydrangea – Hydrangea quercifolia
Thursday, 04 September 2014
by caroline
The oak leafed hydrangea has to be one of the most beautiful of the hydrangeas and also one of the most beautiful shrubs. In my garden in Wandsworth my hydrangea has sat in a reasonably difficult corner of my garden and has quietly climbed up to quite a height (well over 6 foot) and has
- Published in Caroline's favourite flowers
Wreaths and garlands for Christmas
Wednesday, 03 September 2014
by caroline
Every year I make wreaths and garlands for Christmas. Below are some examples of the wreaths I make, but quite honestly I will tailor make them for you. I have done some fabulous garlands for some incredible houses but in each case very annoyingly I have been unable to photograph them. But suffice it to
- Published in Caroline's favourite flowers, Christmas garlands
10 beautiful purple plants for your summer border
Wednesday, 03 September 2014
by caroline
10 beautiful purple plants for your summer border I love the colour purple in a summer border. It is very effective. It is a colour that can be overlooked but it blends in beautifully with greens, whites, yellows, pinks and believe it or not reds. These plants will give you tremendous satisfaction as they are
- Published in Uncategorized
6 of my favourite roses – pinks, yellows, oranges
Monday, 23 June 2014
by caroline
Whenever I talk to a client about their plants and planting plan I always do my best to get them to buy in to the idea of having some roses. I think the recent trend has been to ignore them a bit in planting plans and I’m not sure why. They just don’t seem to
- Published in Caroline's favourite flowers, The New Vintage Garden