Down to earth Garden design
by Sue Loader, Garden designer , Stewarts Landscaping. Tel 01202 882463
I have been designing gardens for 10 years now at Stewarts and have developed my own style and way of working that is a response to the needs and aspirations of our clients.
With my studio in the plantaria at Gardenlands, it is not surprising that most of my clients are already Stewarts customers, although our website does bring in some enquiries from people who haven’t visited the garden centres yet.
My clients are a mixture of people from young people with their first homes, families, and those enjoying their well-earned retirement. Each client has a different “wish list” and I have designed gardens with young children in mind, as well as for wheel chair users, and clients with specific problems that limit the tasks they can perform in the garden. It is an exciting challenge to design a garden that allows everyone to get the most pleasure possible from his or her garden.
Often clients who have recently moved to a property are really apologetic about the state of the garden, however to me, the worse it is the more I like it, as there is more scope for improvement!
I care deeply about our wildlife and the finite resources of our planet and have been brought up not to be wasteful, so all these factors influence my designs. I strive to be as economical as possible, without sacrificing the quality, practicality and good looks of the finished garden. This strategy is especially important in the present economic climate.
I feel that any hard landscaping (the expensive elements in money and environmental impact) should not just be decorative, but perform a practical function. You wont find bright pink concrete walls in the middle of my gardens!
Whilst I have worked in some lovely large gardens, most of the gardens in this densely populated area are modest in size. I have learned to apply the principles of design that I was taught at college to these compact spaces, developing strategies to make a small space seem larger and make clever use of the whole area.
“Low Maintenance” is the most common request, whether from busy parents who lack the time for gardening, or elderly customers who lack the strength and energy that they used to enjoy.
Generally speaking it is the lawn care, and maintenance of planted areas that troubles people most, although painting of fences and other structures, cleaning of patios, and clearing of leaves, especially from gravelled areas can also be time consuming.
Replacing some or all of the lawn with paving can be a labour saving move, and works well in a small garden, but paving is vastly more expensive than grass so this solution comes at a cost! Areas of shingle or pebbles over a membrane are much cheaper and provide an interesting textural contrast to paving, so I often combine paving with pebbles for a more economical and attractive solution, just using the paving where it is really needed to stand furniture on and for paths.
When it comes to planting I recommend shrubs as the low maintenance option in most cases, and they are also the economy option as you don’t need so many to fill the space.
Sometimes I have elderly clients who are reluctant to move house and leave the garden they love, but who can no longer cope with it. A complete makeover of a large garden may be beyond their means so I might suggest minor modifications to make access safer for them etc followed by a maintenance contract whereby our team of plantsmen visit on a regular basis to keep the garden tidy and the shrubs pruned etc.
Occasionally I have the fun of working for a real gardening enthusiast, for whom gardening is their passion and main leisure activity. This presents different challenges, such as how to fit more plants into the garden! It also gives me the opportunity to design high maintenance elements that I normally avoid.
I love the challenge of gardens on a slope, and some of my favourite projects have been of this type. We have transformed steep banks into a series of flat terraces where young children can play and built a large deck out over an impossibly steep ravine for the residents in a nursing home.
The practical, financial and safety aspects in these projects are paramount as with any design. Devising a solution that is also aesthetically pleasing gives me a huge “buzz”.
I enjoy attending garden shows such as Chelsea and Hampton Court for fresh ideas and inspiration, but several clients recently have asked for a garden that they can feel comfortable in, rather than a show garden.
This has led me to wonder if the fashion for “designer gardens” popularised by television programmes such as Ground Force has passed? This doesn’t mean I will be looking for a new career…just as architects will always be needed to design houses, I believe there will always be a need for my services to enable Stewarts customers to make the most of their outdoor space, whatever it size. It doesn’t have to be an expensive or impressive project.
I once asked a famous designer at a show about the life expectancy of the trendy materials he was using. I was shocked when he replied that he expected his clients to change the garden every 5 to 10 years like they did their kitchen.
This was admittedly several years ago, but I think that what Stewarts’ customers want now is a garden that will stand the test of time, growing more beautiful over the years. This is certainly what we believe, and every element in our gardens is built to last because we value our reputation and plan to stay in business…we don’t cut corners to cut costs.
Many of the gardens I work with have been developed in stages by different owners over the years, ending up as a mix if different styles and materials with a confused overall layout. This is where a fresh look at the garden by someone who is not familiar with it can often work wonders.
Simplification is often the key, and I love the challenge of keeping the best bits and linking them all together into a coherent whole.
At the other end of the scale is the blank canvas of a brand new garden. A wonderful chance for the owner to create exactly what they want, but often daunting by its emptiness.
The big advantage of having a design prepared in both these cases is the chance to visualise the finished garden and make alterations on paper, so avoiding costly mistakes. I am currently getting to grips with the 3D tools in my design software, so I can offer 3D visualisations as well as normal plans.
We know that value for money is important to our customers so we have developed range of design services to suit you.
My 2-hour consultation is a very popular service. For £80 I visit you in your garden and advise on layout and /or planting. Gardens are my passion so I really enjoy this part of my job, looking at a range of different gardens; no two are the same and all present unique challenges, but over the years I have learnt the answers to some common problems and picked up good ideas from my clients as well!
For the simpler D.I.Y and planting projects this consultation is all some gardeners need to give them confidence and inspiration to carry on with the project.
Many projects are too complex to solve in just 2 hours, so I also offer a full planning service, with coloured designs drawn to scale and detailed planting plans if needed. Some garden designers have fee scales in £1,000s but by taking a down to earth, no frills approach I can keep the design fee at a reasonable level.
I enjoy the advantage of having a local client base, which brings savings in time and travelling expenses.
Nowadays I produce my designs using professional design software, which results in clear, coloured plans with significant time saving over the hand drawn plans I used to prepare. Being part of the Stewarts Landscaping team, rather than an independent designer, means that communication with the guys building and planting my gardens is really easy and additional fees for site visits, project monitoring etc are avoided. I also have the expertise of our contracts manger on hand to advise me on technical issues, and his help is invaluable during the early stages of my more complex designs.
I have been a passionate gardener since my childhood so training for a career in garden design when my children were growing up was one of the best decisions of my life. 10 years on I have produced over 300 garden designs and must have visited nearly £1,000 gardens! I have learnt a huge amount in that time and its is you, Stewarts customers who have made me what I am…. a specialist in making the most of modest sized gardens, for a sensible price….Thank you!
