A garden designer is required to wear many ‘hats’. You can be asked to design a new build blank canvas garden, or update/refurbish an existing garden, or create a new design for an older garden and transform the space, and all present different challenges.
Looking through some recent ‘before’ and ‘after’ images of gardens I have designed, allowed me to reflect on the variety of ‘hats’ I have been wearing.
The first was certainly a transformation of a very tired and a bit neglected front garden and driveway, to smart and stylish sunny garden with extra parking and new lawn and planting areas.
The next two gardens were much needed updates to existing gardens, keeping paving and decking areas, which is some ways can be more tricky in design terms than a blank canvas, as you have to work with existing areas. For the roof garden the client wanted to keep the existing grey decking boards and extend them and update the area into a modern integral space flowing from the kitchen.
In this more traditional garden, the client wished to refurbish the paving and planting, keeping the style and feel of the space, but giving it a significant refresh.
A different hat I wear is a ‘collaborative hat’ with my colleague, Alison MacDonald of Foliage Planting Design. Alison specializes in planting design and when a project comes along that needs a design and often planning permission plus planting design we join forces and tackle the project together which we both enjoy.
Flowing design lines and a new large family sitting area, with greenhouse and vegetable growing area were some of the ‘must haves’ for this garden for a client who loves gardening and plants. New planting was chosen to compliment mature trees and shrubs.
In contrast, this next project is as near to the seaside as you can get, with the beach and sea on the opposite side of the road. The front garden was redesigned to compliment the Villa, picking up the lines of the villa frontage, with plant beds in pebbles and gravel and tough seaside, wind tolerant low maintenance planting.
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As for my current ‘hats’, I am working on family garden with meadow area, a woodland garden by the sea, a 1930’s style garden requiring a light redesign and refreshed planting. I look forward to seeing what other ‘hat’s’ I will be wearing in 2025.