Plan Your Garden
If you’re looking for ideas for your garden or are interested in reading about our garden design topics, you will find them all here. Use the drop down menu for specific design topics or simply browse or use the search box in the bar above. Enjoy!
Low Maintenance Front Garden Planting
We recently completed the planting for a front garden for a client in Twyford. This planting needed to be low… Read more.
Plant Focus: Rosmarinus ‘Miss Jessopp’s Upright’
A Rosemary? Yes, I am extolling the virtues of a simple, commonly available Rosemary plant. What's to like? Rosmarinus ‘Miss… Read more.
Trees for Autumn colour
Autumn, for me, is the time for trees. When you think of autumn you likely think of the fiery reds,… Read more.
Adding structure to planting borders
A very common request when discussing planting requirements with clients is for a garden with year-round interest - it normally… Read more.
Plant Focus: Syringa meyeri ‘Palibin’
Love the flower and wafting scent of Lilac, but put off by the fact that they grow too big too… Read more.
Plant Focus: Nandina domestica & its smaller relatives
Until recently, Nandina domestica was little known and rarely used by gardeners in the UK, but it is now gaining… Read more.
Porcelain paving is proving a popular choice
We have noticed a real trend over the last 2 years for using porcelain tiles in our clients’ gardens. So… Read more.
Plant Spacing – The Garden Designer’s Dilemma
Clients often ask me how I know how far apart to space plants when designing a new planting scheme. And… Read more.
Using Spring bulbs to add extra colour
Spring bulbs are the underused category of plants that can really lift your garden and add a pop of colour… Read more.
Dealing with a sloping garden
One of our recent designs involved creating a back garden design for a client whose recent extension left them with… Read more.
The Garden in Winter
Let’s face it, gardens don’t always look their best in mid-winter. Yet, looking out at my back garden this morning,… Read more.
Helleborus niger –The Christmas Rose
You know it’s nearly Christmas……. when the first thing that greets you at your local garden centre is a vast… Read more.
Garden Design Psychology
For me, one of the joys of designing, and then constructing gardens for people is witnessing the pleasure that clients… Read more.
Plant Focus: Pittosporum tenuifolium & its cultivars
As any ALDA Landscapes customer will tell you, I am a great fan of Pittosporums, and they feature in some… Read more.
Softening the Lines
Many of the gardens we work in have starkly rectangular or very angular boundaries. In addition, many modern houses are… Read more.
Resin: A Versatile Alternative Landscaping Product
We are now an accredited installer of resin products from the The Resin Mill and recently used it on a driveway… Read more.
Value For Money Plants
At last we have had some rain, and lawns have begun to take on a hint of green - although… Read more.
A Guide to Garden Steps
Wherever there is a change of level in a garden, some form of step(s) or ramp is required. Garden steps… Read more.
Drought Tolerant Plants
As I sit in my office writing this blog, the sun is shining gloriously outside, and it is very warm… Read more.
Raised Beds – Thoughts From A Designer
We build a lot of raised beds at ALDA landscapes. In fact, the majority of gardens we work on feature… Read more.
How to add interest to a wide border
Are you wondering how to add interest to a wide planting border? One option is to install a new pathway… Read more.
Plant Focus: Salvia ‘Royal Bumble’
Some people love bright red. But many gardeners shy away from using red flowered plants in their gardens for fear… Read more.
First Glimpses of Spring
As I sit here writing my January blog, the sky outside is grey and overcast. It seemed to take forever… Read more.
Plants To Lift The Winter Gloom
Is it just me, or does it seem very grey and dark all of a sudden? As I sit here… Read more.
Veggies For Small Gardens – A Few New Ones To Try
As our clients will know, my veggie coffins (beds) have been in use for two years now, and I have… Read more.
Mediterranean Planting
This is the second in a series of blogs looking at using plants for creating different effects, and considers Mediterranean… Read more.
Glade Planting
For me, one of the most interesting aspects of planting design is how plants can be used to build and… Read more.
Plant Focus: Photinia x fraseri ‘Red Robin’ – A Garden Designer’s View
As a garden designer, I have very mixed emotions when it comes to Photinia x fraseri ‘Red Robin’. Am I… Read more.