Garden Design

Expert garden advice

Garden advice, Garden Design, Gardening Garden advice, Horticultural advice

At Bath Garden Design we have been offering garden consultation visits for many years and this service was first conceived after being told repeatedly by clients that they had a gardener, but that they did not seem to know what they were doing or that the client wanted to do the work themselves and needed […]

Colour Your Garden

Flowers, Garden Design, Gardening, Leisure time in the garden, Planting, Summer Colour in garden. garden furniture

At Bath Garden Design, we are huge fans of colour in the garden, whether it is from the planting or the structures such as fences and gates, furniture and timber structures as well as walls. Colour can either perk up a grey day, of which we have had far too many lately, or it can […]

Magnificent Magnolias

Garden Design, Gardening, Landscaping, Planting, Spring Bath Botanical Gardens, Magnolia denudata, Magnolia grandiflora, Magnolia sinensis, Magnolia soulangiana, Magnolia stellata, Magnolia viginiana, Magnolia wilsonii

One of my favourite moments in the year is when the Magnolias start to flower. Along with wisteria, Magnolias herald the new season of sunny warm days and having been modestly hidden in the garden for months, they suddenly show themselves everywhere with their amazing pinky white cup and star shaped blooms. Magnolias are unimaginably […]

Take a seat – Benches in the garden

Garden Design, Gardening, Leisure time in the garden Bath, benches, circular seating, elements, garden, garden seats, garden statue, house, kitchen garden, lichen, meadow, moss, natural planting, relax, seating, table and chairs, terrace, timber storage, veg patch, wildlife, woodland

Benches or garden seats are an important element in a garden. Somewhere to rest, to relax, to socialise, or to simply have a quick sit-down while you admire your hard work. Without them the garden becomes a place you walk through or view from the window. There should be at least one seating place but […]

House Leeks

Garden Design, Gardening, Leisure time in the garden, Planting, Summer beauty, bedding, bedding schemes, camomile, compost, dry stone walls, glaucous, gravel, grit, hardy, House Leeks, Italian Renaissance, leaves, mint, mulch, ornamental plants, pink flowers, planting schemes, pleasure gardens, pot, Sedum, Sempervivum, soil, sunshine, tarragon, violets

Houseleeks or Sempervivum (meaning live for ever) are succulent ornamental hardy plants that have been used in pleasure gardens since around the thirteenth century. Later during the Italian Renaissance these plants were adopted for use in planting schemes as a solid massed groundcover, which also included camomile, mint, tarragon and violets.

Social Climbers

Garden Design, Gardening, Landscaping, Planting climbing rose, colours, flowering, flowers, greenfly, Kiftsgate rose, ladybirds, larvae, pruning, rambling rose, stems

There is little to beat the spectacle of a climbing or rambling rose in the summer. There are not many other plants that can flower so profusely and in such a variety of colours and shades and take up a relatively small area on the ground compared to the enormous vertical space they can fill. […]

The lazy days of summer

Days Out, Fruit and Vegetables, Garden Design, Gardening, Landscaping, Leisure time in the garden, Pests and Diseases, Planting, Summer annuals, borders, Ceonothus, Colour, deadheading, Escallonia, feeding, flowers, Foxgloves, frost, garden, gardening, geraniums, irises, July, lupins, perennials, Philadelphus, Physocarpus, pots and containers, pruning, rhizones, scent, seed, semi-ripe, watering, weeding, Weigela, wisterial, work

I love the July garden, even mine, which although a work in progress has borders beautifully full to bursting and full of colour and scent. Ideally at this time of year we should all be enjoying our gardens and the fruits of our labour. Everything is at its peak and looking great so we should […]

The Greatest Show on Earth

Days Out, Garden Design, Gardening Chelsea, Chelsea flower show, RHS

This week I went to the press day at Chelsea Flower Show, probably the most famous flower show in the world. Apart from the incredible show gardens and a mass of celebrities to ogle, there was also the chance to really get up close to the stands in the Pavilion where many local growers were […]

Christmas Plants

Garden Design, Gardening, Landscaping, Planting, Winter Amaryllis, Bulbs, Christmas, compost, green fingers, house plants, Hyacinths, Narcissi, peat, perlite, pots, scented, terracotta

I am not very good with houseplants. Any green fingers I might have fail me at the door and I have managed to murder many spider plants, money plants and any plant best suited to living inside over the years. I have also fallen foul of the most abused houseplant of all, the Poinsettia. Sold […]

The Beauty of the Botanical Gardens

Autumn, Bath Parks, Garden Design, Gardening, Landscaping, Planting, Spring, Winter Bath Botanical Gardens

First of all, I have a confession to make: I am ashamed to admit that there are many well-known gardens in the South West that I have not visited. I won’t name names. However, there is one place I go to on a regular basis, the Botanical Gardens at Victoria Park. I realise that the […]