Garden Magic

We’re just finishing a garden in Middleton on sea after five weeks. Yesterday, nine of us planted over 2000 plants in the new borders. I love this bit. All aspects of a build are wonderful as you see a new garden take shape, but this last bit – the plants, the final wash down of the new terraces, placing the furniture, tying in the roses to the pergola – that’s the best bit. We’ve even got a duck pond in this one, with a jetty and a little boat for the children to row around the pond. I love it when the client walks through the door and I hear them say “Oh Wow!”

That’s all I want.

Quite often the planting is carried out when they’re not around – at work, off site, on holiday – and they come back to the garden all completely finished.

They’ve seen the hard landscaping go down – seen us building walls, installing pergolas, laying paths – but all of this is the messy part. It’s often muddy and there are always materials stacked on site, taking your eye away from the simplicity of design and nature in harmony. Once we get to the planting stage, we’re tidy. Materials have been taken away; tools, mixers, diggers, dumpers all off site. The plants were all placed and now they’re being put into the ground, the orange plastic pots all disappear and foliage and flowers cover the bare earth. I do believe in making the garden look full and beautiful right from the start. Not for me these landscaping companies that tell me things will grow in five years time! I want it all wonderful now!

Finally, the new lawn goes down like a fitted carpet. The last muddy part of the garden is covered in green, which suddenly brings out all the green in the plants and shrubs too. It’s like magic. We’ve designed and built so many gardens over the years, but each time we finish another new garden I hold my breath. I truly believe that it’s my favourite garden of all time. The plants spill over the new paths, lighting is tested as dusk steals across the lawn and time stands still for me. It’s time for me to say “Oh!”

I love my job.