On Garden Design

Garden lighting finesses a good design; adding safety, security and ambience. But it’s so often poorly done. In this episode we share tips from the experts to enhance your night garden experience, how to use lighting responsibly and what to avoid. ⁠Photos for this episode⁠⁠ are on Instagram at ⁠⁠OnGardenDesign⁠⁠ ☕☕☕ ⁠⁠ BUY US A COFFEE⁠⁠ if you loved this episode 🌼🌷🌱

Gardens are dynamic; we can plan and anticipate but we can't predict how they will evolve. So what do you expect from a garden designer? Are you buying a product with an end-state or are you buying a journey? In this episode we weigh up what you are investing in and consider where it could take you. ⁠Photos for this episode⁠⁠ are on Instagram at ⁠⁠OnGardenDesign⁠⁠ ☕☕☕ ⁠⁠ BUY US A COFFEE⁠⁠ if yo...

Have you ever wondered who are the real people behind these voices? If you’ve enjoyed listening to us over the last 16 months, this episode will take you ‘behind the scenes’ chatting about our friendship, career journeys, hobbies and inspiration that have made us who we are. We also give you a sense of the future of the podcast and invite you to help us take the next step. ⁠Photos for this episode...

Designing your garden around food production is great for your physical and mental health. This episode discusses how good design can improve your gardening experience, productivity, efficiency and access. We give ideas and inspiration for optimising the layout and choosing suitable materials, accessories and plants. However, it’s not a style for everyone and does require considerable capacity and...

An outdoor space dedicated to reflection, relationship and connection can be deeply restorative. Perhaps you would like to create a memory garden to honour a loss or a celebration of a person, pet, event or cultural link? In this episode, we chat about what makes a memory garden meaningful and offer practical ideas to personalise your special space. ⁠Photos for this episode⁠⁠ are on Instagram at ⁠...

Back yards come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and each brings its own set of design challenges. In this episode, we chat about manipulating space to make a garden more interesting and inviting, and we offer design solutions for different garden shapes. So, whether you have a shallow-wide, narrow-long, square or irregular shaped garden, tune in to hear ideas and tricks for creating a beautiful a...

Not all gardens are created equal. In fact, most have challenges that can feel overwhelming. This episode will tackle some of those tricky spaces, such as slope, balconies, vertical spaces, privacy and pokey corners. Listen in for practical ideas and inspiration to re-frame your thinking about how to best transform these tough areas. ⁠Photos for this episode⁠⁠ are on Instagram at ⁠⁠OnGardenDesign⁠...

Do you need a forgiving and low maintenance garden? We give you plenty of reasons to consider why a Mediterranean garden may suit you. To help create this tough, water hardy and sustainable garden style, we offer ideas and inspiration for choosing the layout, colours, materials, accessories and plants. We also highlight style fails and how to adapt this style to your non-Mediterranean climate and...

Sense of Place is about taking cues from your broader landscape to create a garden that belongs to that place. Honouring your surrounding landforms or soils, endemic plants or cultural references may become the central idea for your garden’s design. In this episode we chat about what sense of place means and how it can be interpreted to inform your design choices. If your garden feels like it belo...

Do you crave order and control? Are neat hedges and edges your thing? If so, the discipline and calm of a formal garden may be perfect for you. In this episode we chat about the design elements of a formal garden. We give you plenty of ideas and inspiration for choosing the layout, plants, structures and materials that are true to creating these gardens. It may sound simple, but this is one style...

How about designing a garden based on a central idea? If you crave interactive experience, stimulation and response from your garden, try framing your design thinking around all things sensory. In this episode we chat about how choosing sensory as your central design idea guides your choice of layout, plants, materials and accessories. Whether you want to soothe or excite your senses, listen in fo...

In this episode we chat about the design elements of a contemporary garden. To create this stylish, crisp and asymmetric garden style, we give you plenty of ideas and inspiration for choosing the layout, structures, materials, accessories and plants. It’s a great style to choose if you want an entertainer’s garden with low maintenance overheads. However, it’s not as simple as it sounds: it takes r...

Do you mostly use your outdoor spaces at night? An entertainer, moth watcher, star gazer or sun avoider? Then why not design a space that is entirely centred on the idea of engaging your garden at night? In this episode we chat about how to make a garden particularly evocative and interesting at night. We consider how to maximise your layout, plants, lighting, materials and accessories to deliver...

This informative chat steps you through the process for designing your own garden. If you’re up for the challenge, we give you plenty of tips and ideas for assessing, arranging and styling your garden. While we are keen to encourage you to have a go at design, we also highlight the tricky areas where it’s best to call in the experts. ⁠Photos for this episode⁠⁠ are on Instagram at ⁠⁠OnGardenDesign⁠...

If you feel like a giant in your garden or your outdoor areas feel overwhelming or insignificant, you’re probably experiencing a problem with proportion. In this episode we chat about practical ways to identify and achieve proportion. We discuss how to take cues from your garden’s broader context and the effect of scale, shapes, colour and foliage on achieving proportion. This episode is the third...

Personal values shape the choices we make and the lifestyle we live. So why shouldn’t values play a key role in creating a garden that reflects your principles, priorities and personality? Join our conversation with Lachlan Richardson, a values-based garden designer, as we explore how an appreciation for awe, inclusivity and a social conscience can deliver affordable and sustainable garden design....

Is there something overpowering or dominating in your garden? It’s probably upsetting your garden’s balance and compromising its harmony, comfort and stability. In this episode we chat about practical ways to achieve balance in your garden. We discuss how to achieve weighting without symmetry, applying mass and void and how to incorporate a pleasing composition of flow, shapes, texture and colour....

We intuitively know that gardens have a positive impact on mental health. When this is backed by science, it becomes even more compelling. Join us in this gentle chat with Sue Stuart-Smith, psychiatrist, psychotherapist and author of The Well Gardened Mind as she takes us on a journey to better understand why and how gardens can be healing and restorative for mental health conditions. Peppered wit...

Why is it that some gardens just feel right? And others feel chaotic, disjointed and jarring? It’s probably all about unity. In this episode we chat about practical ways to achieve unity in your garden. We discuss how repetition brings coherence, how taking the lead from a style, theme or genre provides a unifying language and why sense of place is an important consideration. This podcast is the f...

Would you like to rewild your garden AND design it to look good? Join us chatting with Charlie Harpur about bringing back natural process to the landscape. As Head Gardener at Knepp in southern England, Charlie shares his knowledge and experience in restoring biodiversity through a mosaic of habitats. As the keystone species in your garden, apply these practical tips and techniques to nurture your...

Dividing your garden into a series of smaller spaces is a landscape design method to make an outdoor area feel larger, more inviting and purposeful. In this episode we chat about how to design outdoor rooms. We’ll give you guidelines on ideal room proportions and what makes up the floors, walls and ceilings. We also consider how to create effective transitions and flow between the rooms. And can d...

70% of households have a pet and these little companions probably spend most of their life in the garden. So it’s only fair that any good garden design considers the pets’ behaviours, needs, safety and comfort. In this episode we chat about what to include, avoid and consider when designing a pet friendly garden. But one pet ain’t like the next, so how do you balance your pet’s personality with yo...

Garden design is a dynamic discipline; constantly evolving through new design thinking, relationships, experimental horticultural practices and contemporary materials and technology. In this episode we chat with Fleur Flanery, owner of @outlandishventures whose remit is to identify and share innovative voices that influence global landscape design trends. This episode is packed with great conversa...

A beautiful garden with little effort? Is there such a thing? In this episode we chat about how to design a low effort garden and which styles, materials, accessories and plants are well suited to achieving this approach. We challenge some of the romantic notions of low effort gardens and give you the practical run down of where to put your investment and what to avoid. If you love minimalist, con...

Japanese gardens are a timeless and increasingly popular garden style. They can be equally pleasing in large gardens as they are in small courtyards. So where do you start if you want your own Japanese-inspired garden? In this episode we chat about the symbology and essential elements that make up a Japanese-inspired garden. We discuss how to arrange the components, and which materials and accesso...