Discover the Floral & Hardy’s garden design service
A garden is a valuable asset whetherit is in the countryside or the city, and it very often has a larger footprint than the house itself, so it therefore makes sense to make the most of it.
A well designed garden can add considerable value to your property as well as providing a pleasing and useful extension to your home, and any gardener worth their worth their salt/compost will tell you that a pleasing garden is all in the design. Like many great undertakings, the garden design phase is everything, and all great things take time to plan, which is why we can tell you, from our enviable position of hindsight, that right now is the best time to start planning your garden.
January and February in England can be fairly miserable months, with snow too sparse to romanticise, and trees still skeletal in winter’s wake, so why not fight the melancholia by making exciting plans for your outside space?
The English climate, as we know, dictates that we get the most enjoyment of a garden in the summer (although planning for winter interest is also vitally important) and, as such, at the beginning of the year we are afforded a very comfortable time slot in which to ensure our garden is designed and ready in time for the warmer months.
Our own design process takes about a month. It includes our initial visit and a follow-up design meeting, when the mood and function of your garden is discussed with you. This leads onto the presentation of the finished garden design, 3D images, mood board illustrations and a proposed plant list. It is at this point when you can begin to see the potential for your garden.
The layout and contents of gardens varies wildly from client to client as it is based on their desires and budget, and a lot of joy in the design process stems from reconciling the former with the latter. It calls for ingenuity and passion, but above all, time.
Perhaps you’d like a play area for your children,
a vegetable plot to grow healthy fresh produce and save on shopping bills,
a contemporary entertaining space,
or a more formal design complete with box hedging and uniform beds?
Depending on the ambition of the project, the garden construction can take anywhere from four weeks to six months.
Summer doesn’t seem so far away now does it?
The aesthetic pleasure derived from a garden shouldn’t be your sole motivation either – in a much larger sense your outdoor space dictates the kind of footprint you and your family leave upon the environment. Though it may be easier just to pave over your driveway or lay turf up to the back gate, but aside from being a bit boring, we have a responsibility to pay heed to the biodiversity of our planet.
Some of you may remember an article we published a year or so ago that focused on the fast shrinking green corridors that afford Britain’s native bees the appropriate conduits by which to travel and propagate. You might also remember our piece on city gardening, or design within a limited space, so, regardless of whether it’s a palace garden or a window box, every scrap of green is needed, particularly with our climate balanced so precariously on a razor’s edge. So you see there’s a kind of selfless reward, as well as your own personal satisfaction.
A wonderful aspect of human nature is that we’re generally happiest when we’re engaged in something; a project that drives and inspires us. It’s when the best of our creativity is brought to light and, while we will do all the work for you and give you back the finished garden designed exclusively for you and all tied up with a big pink bow(!) the project remains as much yours as it does ours, ensuring that you get the garden that you’ve always dreamed of.
So, what are you waiting for? Pick up the phone, 0845 603 2598, or complete our enquiry page and we look forward to working with you.
By Josh Ellison
