Filtered by: Garden Design
Amanda Patton talks garden landscaping design, modern garden design, contemporary garden design
Chelsea Flower Show 2010 build-up and Press Day
I’m incredibly fortunate in being able to spend a couple of days at the Chelsea Flower Show each year. I love the atmosphere during build-up with its mix of nerves, exhaustion, adrenaline and steely determination to create perfection against tough odds. This year, not surprisingly, it’s been the weather that has been the main topic [...]
“I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers” Claude Monet
Call me an old romantic but I’m a bit of a sucker for tulips. I love the way they are transformed from tight bud to over-the-top bloom, with an intensity and depth of colour almost unparalleled in the plant world. It’s no wonder so many painters love them, though it’s not easy to capture the luminescence and silkiness [...]
new drive and entrance, Dorset
I was asked to design the front entrance area and drive for this delightful Arts and Crafts house in Dorset. As you can see from the ‘before’ photo (below), the original entrance was a steep tarmac drive, with a metre height difference between the left and right sides of the house, which ‘featured’ a slightly bizarre oval [...]
The 2010 Great Garden Trail
I was in London yesterday at the garden I designed in Bow http://www.amandapatton.co.uk/portfolio/bow/ which was open to the public under the Great London Garden Trail. This was rather an unusual garden opening, in that the Trail featured just 10 gardens, each of which had been professionally designed by a Registered Member of the Society of Garden Designers. As [...]
Amelanchier lamarckii
One of the things I love about gardening is the thrill of anticipation. While I’m not immune to the instant gratification of an immediate make-over, nothing quite beats going out every day to see how a favourite plant is doing, watching tiny growth each day, waiting for the moment when the ever fattening buds will burst. [...]
design for Langport garden
I’ve just completed the outline design for this garden near Langport in Somerset. It’s an interesting one because the garden wraps all around the house and there are fabulous views; the first being a problem to overcome, the second being something you want to make the most of. This (above and below) is the view [...]
Planting combination for annual flowers
During my monthly broadcast on BBC Somerset this morning I mentioned a planting combination for annuals, grown easily from seed. The beauty of growing annuals is that you can try out different colour and texture combinations, without great expense, and you can try something new each year. The planting mix that I have recommended will give [...]
design consultations
I went to a potentially very pretty garden this week (which the owner is quite prepared to admit is a bit of a mess at the moment – but then that’s why she asked me to visit!). While in an ideal world it would be great to have the budget to create an amazing garden [...]
garden quote
I was in Sherborne today and saw a postcard with this Chinese proverb which I thought was rather splendid; “If you want to be happy for a short time, get drunk. If you want to be happy for a long time, fall in love. If you want to be happy forever, make a garden!” (this [...]
hand drawn vs CAD?
There’s a bit of snobbery going on in the garden design world, between those who draw their plans by hand and those who use CAD (computer aided design), and both think they’re right. The hand-drawing devotees – using tracing paper and a pencil – swear that it’s the only way to make sure that designs [...]