by GillianPolley | Dec 18, 2015 | 2015, advent season, back gardens, bulbs, Carex comans bronze, Carex oshimensis 'Evergold', Christmas, colour in the garden, containers, cyclamen, December, Design, Edinburgh, evergreen plants, Festive plant container, focal points in the garden, front garden, garden inspiration, Grasses, herbaceous perennials, Heuchera 'Plum Pudding', livingreendesign, long flowering period, low maintenance plants, Plants, Polley Garden Design, Sarcococca Purple Stem, scent, shrubs, Skimmia japonica, winter colour, winter scent in the garden
Christmas is here, and people are busy decorating their christmas trees and decking their halls, but don’t forget your garden. A festive styled plant container in a position near a door or viewed from a window really cheers up a garden. At plant nurseries and...
by GillianPolley | Oct 1, 2015 | 2015, A Day Out, art in the garden, autumn colour, BBC, BBC Gardeners' World, Colour, colour in the garden, Edinburgh, garden inspiration, garden views, habitat for wildlife, herbaceous perennials, insect habitat, insects, Lawns, long flowering period, low maintenance plants, naturalistic planting, Plants, Polley Garden Design, Prairie planting, sculpture in the garden, seats in the garden, september, sussex prairie garden, sussex prairies garden
If you are down in Sussex and looking for a good garden to visit, don’t hesitate to go and see Sussex Prairies Garden, we had a lovely afternoon in the beautiful garden a couple of weeks ago. You can wander in eight acres of naturalistically planted prairie...
by GillianPolley | Aug 11, 2015 | 2015, Acer, Acers, Architectural Plants, Buxus, Design, evergreen plants, front garden, garden inspiration, garden transformation, Japanese gardens, O-Karikomi, O-Karikomi gardening technique, Plants, Polley Garden Design, shrubs, trees, winter structure
Design ideas come from everywhere and everything, sometimes you immerse yourself in an idea, work at it and develop it, then it sits in the back of your mind and simmers slowly. I find the ‘simmering time’ vital as you take the idea, push and pull it...
by GillianPolley | Jan 2, 2015 | 2015, annual plants, apples, back gardens, Bailey, bare root fruit trees, bats, bees, bees and insects, Birds, Colour, colour in the garden, community gardens, conifers, containers, Design, dogs, Edinburgh, evergreen plants, front garden, fruit trees, garden inspiration, Garden trends 2015, habitat for wildlife, herbaceous perennials, insect habitat, insect hotels, insects, January, outdoor pools and spas, pears, Plants, plums, Polley Garden Design, Raised wooden beds, rural country gardens, shapes, shrubs, Spring, Stepover fruit trees, Top garden trends for 2015, trained fruit trees on walls, trees, Tweed Valley Fruit Trees, urban green spaces, Vegetable growing, wildlife habitats
In the world of fashion for Spring 2015, navy is the ‘new black’, the pattern is gingham and the style of jacket is ‘kimono cool’. A couple of months ago I brought a kimono style jacket for a change and I am delighted to be ‘kimono...
by GillianPolley | Jul 23, 2014 | A Day Out, A Linear Focus, Architectural Plants, art in the garden, Colour, colour in the garden, Design, Edinburgh, evergreen plants, focal points in the garden, garden inspiration, Hedges, herbaceous border, herbaceous perennials, Houghton Hall Walled Garden, July, June, Lawns, Norfolk, Plants, Polley Garden Design, scent, sculpture in the garden, soft landscaping, summer
People ask me, “Do you enjoy visiting gardens when you are on holiday?” The answer is definitely “yes”. I can enjoy them as a visitor without the worry of designing them, or worrying how the planting is doing and in this hot weather, are the...
by GillianPolley | Apr 11, 2014 | April, art in the garden, arts and crafts, BBC, British Gardens in Time, Christopher Lloyd, Colour, colour in the garden, Design, early summer, Edinburgh, focal points in the garden, garden inspiration, Great Dixter, Hedges, herbaceous perennials, Plants, Polley Garden Design, summer
If you can find an hour to yourself over the Easter weekend and you want to put your feet up and relax and be inspired by a garden, then catch up on the BBC iPlayer with the new TV series ‘British Gardens in Time’, episode one on Great Dixter. A...
