by GillianPolley | Feb 17, 2017 | 1930's house, 2017, A Linear Focus, Acer, Acers, arts and crafts, arts and crafts garden design, Arts and Crafts style house, box balls, Colour, Design, design balance, drainage, driveway, Edinburgh, evergreen plants, front garden, front garden/driveways, garden inspiration, garden transformation, Grasses, Hellebores, herbaceous perennials, Japanese gardens, low maintenance plants, O-Karikomi, outdoor furniture, Plants, Polley Garden Design, Pulmonarias, scent, shrubs, Sir Robert Lorimer, SUDS, winter colour, winter scent in the garden, winter structure
Designing front gardens and driveways is often challenging. Never mind the practicalities of a car parking space or manoeuvring space for the car or cars (it often takes more space then you think) and access routes from A to B and Sustainable Urban Drainage issues...
by GillianPolley | Jan 30, 2017 | 2017, apples, back gardens, bare root fruit trees, bees and insects, bulb planting for insects, bulbs, colour in the garden, community gardens, container growing, Copper Mango Photography, Design, designing your own garden, Edinburgh, evergreen plants, fire pits, fire places, front garden, fruit trees, garden inspiration, garden trends 2017, gold, health, herbaceous perennials, indoor plants, insect habitat, insect hotels, insects, Keukenhof Park, low maintenance plants, Mixed bulb planting, naturalistic planting, outdoor furniture, outdoor kitchens, outdoor sitting areas, pears, pizza ovens, plums, Polley Garden Design, Potager, Potager gardens, Raised wooden beds, rear garden patio, rear garden terrace, safe haven, seats in the garden, shrubs, soft fruit, Top Garden Trends for 2017, wellbeing
The desire for a healthy lifestyle continues with nearly 39% of us spending more time in our garden and 45% of us seeing our gardens as an extension of our homes. Growing our own fruit, vegetables and herbs in our gardens, allotments or with others in community...
by GillianPolley | Dec 6, 2016 | 'Lelystad' bulb mixture, 2016, autumn colour, back gardens, bees, bees and insects, bulb planting for insects, bulbs, Crocus, Edinburgh, front garden, Holland, JUB Holland, Keukenhof Park, long flowering period, Mixed bulb planting, Muscari, Narcissus, Plants, Polley Garden Design, shrubs, spring colour, Tulipa fosteriana Orange Emperor, windy conditions
After my flying visit in the spring to the Keukenhof Park just outside Amsterdam, inspired by seeing 7 million bulbs in bloom. I wanted to add more bulbs to my own garden – albeit in a much smaller way! Packing a very big punch were large borders of mixed bulbs,...
by GillianPolley | Jan 18, 2016 | 2016, annual plants, back gardens, Colour, colour in the garden, community gardens, containers, cooking apples, Dahlias, Design, Edinburgh, evergreen plants, front garden, fruit trees, garden inspiration, garden trends 2016, January, local hard landscaping materials, long flowering period, low maintenance plants, outdoor kitchens, outdoor sitting areas, Plants, plums, Polley Garden Design, rear garden patio, rear garden terrace, shrubs, Stepover fruit trees, Vegetable growing
Fun, Chat, Eat and Relax are the key words for 2016 in the garden. Our desire for a healthy lifestyle continues from last year and growing your own vegetables, fruit and herbs in our gardens remains popular. From mixing it up and growing vegetables and flowers...
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 | 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...