Blue Daisy Blog

If we just take a look at two main themes namely attitude and consumer trends we can look at how they could influence garden design for next year.

We all know that there are noticeable differences in attitudes through the generations and this does definitely seep into the garden too.  Typically the younger house owner will see their gardens as an extra room, somewhere to entertain, as a workspace, or even somewhere to play the Wii!

Often the younger house owner will opt for a garden with less plants, more functional space and typically with a more contemporary feel.  The older generation generally see their garden as a place to actually garden, to tend their plants and as a place to relax.

I recently read an interesting article by Frank Ronan in Gardens Illustrated (May 2010) called ‘Live and Let Grow’ which has inspired me to write another lawn related blog.  It is something that I really like the idea of and have recently seen some great examples.  Some people can be quite obsessed about their lawns ensuring they are highly manicured, if you recognise yourself the following may be quite a scary concept for you!

We're loving oranges and purples together right now - to some it may sound a bit garish and not quite their cup of tea but you can get some fantastically striking looks and from some of our more commonly chosen garden flowers too, you don’t have to stray too far into the unknown to get some great effects (see these pictures for proof!).

Here at Blue Daisy we like this colour combination; it's striking, it's bold and a little bit out of the ordinary!  These colours make you take notice, make you feel like you want to linger and really see how well they work together.

Our favourite oranges of the moment are:

• Helenium 'Waldtraut'
• Knipofia 'Royal Standard'
• Echinacea 'Arts Pride'
• Geum 'Prinses Juliana'

And our favourite purples to go with the oranges above are:

• Verbena bonariensis
• Geranium 'magnificum'
• Salvia x sylvestris 'Mainacht'