What the Great British Bake Off Can Teach Us About Garden Design... no, really!

If you’re anything like us you’ve been watching the trials and tribulations of this year’s wannabe star bakers getting to grips with Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood’s stretching, if not seemingly impossible (for us mere mortals), weekly baking challenges in the Great British Bake Off (GBBO).

But watching the initially optimistic bakers’ dozen succumb to the pressures of the signature, technical and showstopper challenges over the last few weeks it’s got us to thinking and as mad as it sounds we think the GBBO has lessons about garden design hidden in its depths.

So, without further ado, and in no particular order, here’s our take on what the GBBO can teach us about being a garden designer.

  1. Ingredients
    A core component of a successful GBBO challenge is the ingredients of a bake that combine to make a hopefully beautiful whole. It’s exactly the same for garden design – get the ingredients wrong and the results can be disastrous. When putting that ‘recipe’ together, whether for the oven or the garden it pays to think ahead. Creativity and flair make for exciting results but garden designers generally tend not to throw ingredients in on a whim!
  2. Measuring out
    Linked to the above, the measuring out of those ingredients is crucial to a good bake. Getting it wrong will change the chemistry of a bake, and from that everything else follows: taste, structure, consistency, look, etc. Get your measurements wrong in garden design and you’ll potentially be looking at a disproportionate, imbalanced result, not to mention a probable under or over spend on materials and a garden that might not be fit for purpose (paths too narrow, steps too high, patio too small, for instance). It might not feel very creative, but garden designers love tape measures and other measuring instruments. The lesson is clear - take the time to measure things out and the results will look all the better for it.
  3. Timing
    There’s no getting away from it – good baking is all about timing and the GBBO takes that timing and turns it into high pressure for the bakers every week. Garden design is a little less time sensitive for most of us (unless there’s a show garden involved, of course!) but it does still play a key role in a garden design project. Timescales from idea to concept through to build and planting can take months rather than weeks so it’s important for clients to know what’s involved before things even begin to happen; the timing of materials delivery can either help or hinder the progress of a build phase while the seasonal timing of planting up designs can have implications for cost, risk and visual impact, to name a few. Timing also needs to have a degree of flexibility and judgement thrown into the mix too – in GBBO terms that manifests itself as ‘shall I take it out of the oven’, ‘shall I leave it in’, ‘is it cooked’, ‘shall I turn it up, or down or just leave it’; these are all GBBO dilemmas that we see week in week out but similar judgement calls also need to be made in garden design projects too, many led by the weather! The lesson:– have a plan, but be prepared to be flexible.
  4. Creativity
    This one goes without saying – every week in the GBBO kitchen we see creativity in spades. A GBBO winner is never going be short on creativity and neither is a good garden designer. But creativity doesn’t have to be all singing, all dancing and showy, it can be subtle and clever too; hidden in the depths of the flavouring, and so it is with garden design too. A good, creative garden design doesn’t have to smack you in the face! It can creep up on you slowly and win you over with subtle, clever touches of genius; so don’t forget garden design isn’t all about the show stopper!
  5. Confidence
    We see it often in the GBBO – a contestant trying to face down Paul Hollywood’s sceptical blue eyes after they’ve outlined their plans to him. Garden design can sometimes feel like that, especially when presenting a concept! But we’ve also found that non-believers can and often do become converts – the proof, as they say, is often in the pudding. Paul Hollywood is big enough to admit when his scepticism was misplaced and a good dose of confidence also goes a long way in garden design where, unlike the GBBO, the ‘pudding’ will never usually get to be made unless you can win someone over to the ideas first. The lesson for a garden designer - present your ideas with confidence because if you don’t have confidence in your design your client definitely won’t.
  6. Scale & Structure
    Scale and structure crops up time and again in the GBBO – bake 36 identical these; 3 tiers of those; a freestanding this; a centrepiece made out of that – it’s not enough to make a great biscuit for instance in the GBBO: instead you’ve got to make a biscuit scene or structure and week in, week out the bakers generally rise to the challenge. The lessons are clear: a methodical, unflappable approach, calmness in the face of adversity, being able to think on your feet (and occasionally outside the box), adapt plans, avoid distractions, work to a plan and a timetable while remaining technically sound and keeping a sharp eye on the details along with a flair for 'joining things' are all required to win out. These skills need to be the preserve of the garden designer too.
  7. Consistency
    Everyone agrees – you have to be good to even win a place in the GBBO tent but when the competition starts in earnest you have to be consistent too. You don’t have to be star baker week in week out to win either, just consistently good. Consistency counts and it’s a good trait for a garden designer too – you don’t have to be a celebrity garden designer to be a good one.
  8. Expertise
    The GBBO wouldn’t be the success it is without the highly experienced and respected Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith (and Mary Berry before her). It is their expertise that adds the extra pressure onto the contestants which in turn is so engaging to watch. It is their opinion we all hang on to – it is them the contestants want to impress and to be like in the kitchen – it is them that are the safe pair of hands in the collective and proverbial baking kitchen of the nation. The GBBO wouldn’t be the same without that level of expertise – it is a key ingredient of its success – and garden designs benefit from a good dose of expertise too. Sure we can all have a go and do it ourselves – the contestants themselves are testimony to that for the most part in baking terms, but disasters do happen, quite often, and you can’t help thinking that if Paul, or Prue (or Mary) were baking x, y or z, it would be a pretty disaster-free affair. The GBBO lesson for being a garden designer: know your stuff.
  9. Humour
    GBBO's sidekicks Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond (along with Sandi Toksvig, Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins previously) aren’t to everyone’s taste but their contribution to the success of GBBO with their silly, easy brand of humour and tongue in cheek innuendos is indisputable. Their humour is the constant thread throughout the GBBO; it is the tension reliever, the stress buster and sometimes even the disaster averter. And while it’s not a requirement for a garden designer, the lessons of the GBBO apply here too – however plans go awry, and for whatever reason, hang on to your humour!
  10. Taste test
    There’s no getting away from it, taste matters in the GBBO tent and so it is with garden design too. Whether you’re baking for Paul and Prue or your family; or designing a garden for a client the desired outcomes are the same: the taster has to love the result. Hopefully the other lessons learned will contribute to a positive outcome but one of the tricks in this regard is to keep the particular taster in mind while applying those lessons. Taste is subjective after all, and there is no accounting for it as the old adage says, so it is important to cater for a specific taster (client) when thinking about garden design – it is that bespoke application of skill and knowledge that will ensure success.

So there you have it, 10 lessons that GBBO can teach us about being a garden designer. A stretch? Maybe… but silliness aside, the lessons still apply!!

Creating an Indoor Outdoor Cohesive Space

Creating an Indoor Outdoor Cohesive Space

One of the jobs of a garden designer is to try to make the garden feel part of a cohesive whole with a client’s house so that they feel they belong together. It’s rarely an explicit request but when we’re designing a garden, a good starting point when trying to decide where things should go is to do it with the sight lines from the house very firmly in mind.  Regardless of the size of garden if you can create something beautiful and interesting to look out at then it brings the garden ‘closer’ to the viewer because they feel more engaged with it.  We’ve talked before about creating views of the garden so that from inside the house, the frames of windows and doorways when looking out are ‘framing’ the view beyond.  In putting that ‘view’ together it’s a good tip to try to think as a painter or photographer would, in terms of thinking about fore-, middle and backgrounds; about balance, subjects and ways of leading the eye through the view.

The décor, along with the use and choice of materials indoors, can give huge cues for outdoor decisions in terms of linking a garden and home – and more on that in a future article – but one obvious way to link indoor and outdoor spaces is through the use of greenery, i.e. plant choices and planting design.  Indoor gardening is more popular than ever and as we’re becoming more and more aware, just as looking out at a view of nature is good for us, surrounding ourselves with house plants is too.

Studies show that there are both psychological and physical health benefits of indoor plants; psychologically they improve our mood, reduce our stress levels and help make us more productive.  Physically they reduce our blood pressure, headaches and fatigue.  Indoor plants – just as outdoor plants do – also bring with them a massive and versatile potential for aesthetic styling, and just as we work with such things like form, habit, colour and texture externally, so too can we do so indoors. 

There’s a huge potential then for creating cohesion of indoor and outdoor spaces through planting.  For instance, if you can bring your outdoor planting right up to your house – perhaps through window boxes or raised beds leading up to your patio doors/bifolds, etc - and your indoor planting right up to the outdoor threshold so only the glass of a window or doors separates them; it can be a very effective way of blending the boundary between indoor and outdoor. 

Similarly repeating the forms, textures or leaf shapes of indoor plants with outdoor planting reinforces the links between the separate areas.  Picking repeating/similar flower or leaf colours across thresholds has the same effect as does choosing similar styles of pots that continue across the divide. 

For many of us space can be an issue both inside and out, so as usual, when floor space is limited, we’d recommend thinking vertically.  While hedges aren’t quite an option indoors, indoor wall space can be just as effective as garden fences and walls outside when it comes to accommodating plants.  You don’t need a full-size living wall either (as beautiful as they are!).  Climbers can be used indoors or as in our image/s small ‘living pictures’ can be used to harmonise the indoor/outdoor areas just as effectively as floor or shelf standing planters.  (We were so delighted with these living pictures in terms of looks, versatility and practicality - they have their own reservoir so watering is pretty much taken care of – we are now accredited suppliers of them so do get in touch if you are as equally delighted with them!)

Of course, choosing plants for indoors needs the same consideration as choosing for outdoors so light levels, room temperature and fluctuations, plant care needs and toxicity are some of the things to be considered along with their looks, size, form, colour, texture, etc.  If you have the right plant, in the right place doing the right job for you both indoors and out then the chances are good that you’ll also have a cohesive indoor/outdoor space.

Respect your elders… and oaks… and maples… and pines… and…

Trees bring benefits to the garden

It was a sad day. A newly moved-in homeowner rang the death knell for two enormous, mature spruce trees that had occupied the same space since before a house and garden was ever even a thought in the original landowner’s mind, back at the turn of the 20th century. Of course the new homeowner has every right to make that decision about those trees but this story is indicative of a trend that seems to be currently sweeping the UK. Decades, if not sometimes hundreds of years’ growth, are being decimated in a single day by (often) new homeowners who only see potential problems with trees and not their many benefits. Add a ‘potential problem’ to a ‘disposable world frame of mind’ and the result is not going to be a favourable one for many an existing tree.

But we would urge anyone to reconsider that decision to fell a mature tree. Even ignoring the proven wider environmental benefits of trees on our urban environment (an article for another time) – and privately owned trees often constitute more than half of the tree cover in UK cities – from a purely ‘garden design’ perspective the mature trees inherited with a newly acquired garden usually bring fantastic opportunities and benefits with them.

Being able and open to considering what they can offer is half the battle. Assuming they’re healthy and sound, we’d recommend living with inherited trees for at least a year before making any decisions about them. Watch them throughout the seasons and consider what they bring to the garden at different times of the year, in different conditions. So for instance, notice things like colour, fragrance, flowers, height, shade, structure, fruit, wildlife, movement, sound, view… all of these things add to the ‘feel’ of a garden (and in many circumstances were actually part of the reason why you loved the house and garden in the first place!).

Inheriting mature trees is like starting a new relationship – it’s worth getting to know them before ditching them! Oftentimes, the things that you weren’t sure of to begin with become the very things that you grow to love about them, or even if you don’t love some things the other things that you love about them overshadow and far outweigh the things that you don’t; and like all good relationships, compromises can be reached that keep both parties happy.

There may be no alternative to felling when it comes to damaged or diseased trees but for the most part, from a garden design perspective mature trees are virtually impossible features to replace in a garden and finding something even vaguely as versatile and impressive as a mature tree is very costly – if you have inherited one or more in your garden we’d recommend you hang on to them, they are like gold-dust!

Don’t be fooled by gardens in winter

Winter isn’t ‘dead’

It may be the ‘dead’ of winter, but don’t be fooled… contrary to popular belief winter gardens have an awful lot going for them. Not only can a well designed garden look gorgeous in winter, in terms of both gardening and design there is also lots to do in, and about, the garden at this time of year.

...winter can be one of our busiest seasons because for those clients who want to enjoy their garden in the spring and early summertime, it is in winter where all the work is required

As garden designers we’re often asked if we get the winter ‘off’ but honestly, winter can be one of our busiest seasons because for those clients who want to enjoy their garden in the spring and early summertime, it is in winter where all the work is required. The garden design, build and planting process can take anything from 5 to 24 weeks from date of sign up, and even longer in some circumstances – the weather, resource availability and other factors can often get in the way – so counting backwards, if you want to be enjoying those early rays of April sunshine in your newly designed garden you need to be confirmed in our work schedule in December, January or mid-February at the very latest.

But even if a professional garden designer and landscaper isn’t for you; it is in winter that the best laid plans for your garden need to be hatched. It is winter time that allows you to see the underlying structure of your garden and judge whether or not it’s working; it is winter time that is best for physically addressing those structural problems while plants are dormant and space is clear for movement; it is winter time that is the best time for moving plants that you want to keep because of that dormancy and it is the wintertime that precedes the time you most want to enjoy your garden, enabling you to be ready and prepared for the spring ‘rush’ to be outdoors.

If you’re not redesigning but looking after your garden the winter offers the best opportunity to prune trees and shrubs such as wisteria, fruit trees (though not stone fruit trees like plum or cherry), climbing roses, acers and vines. It is a great time for propagating many perennials from root cuttings and shrubs and trees from hard wood cuttings. It is also the best time for the maintenance of structures and tools and there are still many garden maintenance tasks that, if done regularly, will benefit your garden greatly when it does begin to come out of hibernation.

In terms of designing for a beautiful winter garden for next year, structure is the key here.

In terms of designing for a beautiful winter garden for next year, structure is the key here. Structure can be provided by a number of means: well placed evergreen plants, for instance, with different forms, texture and heights really come into their own in a winter garden. Hedge lines and simple topiary shapes like balls and pyramids can look fantastic as do ‘gone over’ seed heads and the stark imposing shapes of deciduous trees. Sheds, obelisks, pergolas, art, water features and trellis all offer structural opportunities for the winter garden along with hard landscaping features like pathways, steps and walls. And don’t forget colour too, just because it’s winter your garden doesn’t have to be dull – think of the neon winter bark of cornus and willow, the bright red berries of holly and the acid yellow/orange flowers of hamamelis, to name a few; not to mention the extensive array of paint hues and shades available to us for a man-made intervention.

Tempted to get out of your cosy armchair yet?? Go on! You know you want to and spring will be here before you know it!

The Slab Effect

The Slab Effect

Love them or loathe them, chances are you have some slabs – paviours to us garden designers – somewhere in your garden. Incredibly versatile and varied paving slabs offer all sorts of opportunities through colour, function and form for garden owners and designers, but not all paviours are created equally. So, how do you decide what’s the ‘best’ paviour for your garden project? Here are some performance related things to consider as a starting point….

Most people tend to go for the look of a paving effect first but it’s worth knowing what you’re going to do with your newly paved area before you invest, so that the paviours themselves are fit for the purpose you intend. So, for instance, are you going to walk over them, drive over them, sit on them, park on them, etc? Will the area be high or low ‘traffic’? What are the prevailing weather conditions that it will be in, will it be in sunshine or shade, hot or cold, etc?

All of these things require varying performance capabilities from a paviour. In our UK climate for instance we need paviours that won’t crack in repeated freezing temperatures or go green with algae and lichen growth when sited in a shady spot, so in this regard when considering a paviour look for water absorption figures/guarantees from suppliers. Reputable suppliers will provide them but unfortunately that’s not the case with many stones available. The lower the water absorption figure, the better the chance of an algae-free shady spot or a cracking paviour in freezing conditions. The suppliers we use typically offer paviours with water absorption level of 1.7%.

Driving over paviours demands strength and flexibility, something that is usually best accommodated with smaller, albeit thicker, paviours. That’s why so many driveways use block paving or setts, the smaller shapes allow for ‘flex’ as the car wheels drive over them, but larger paviours can be used with some careful thought and a suitable base. Never opt for anything less than a 32mm thickness for driveway paviours and preferably choose 40mm, 50mm or more. Flexural strength is sometimes mentioned by suppliers and this refers to the strength of a material in response to flexing stress and force applications – generally the stronger a stone is the less chance there is of it failing or being attacked by frost once it’s laid.

If you’re going to use paviours on pathways and patios choose slip resistant finishes; this used to mean that it’s usually best to avoid highly polished paviours and lean instead to a more textured or rivened finish but many stone suppliers today promise slip resistance on the vast majority of their paving if it is maintained properly, so it is possible to get that smooth, contemporary look with a functional slip free surface with a little more effort. Sandstone or Yorkstone are popular natural stone choices here but we’re seeing many clients opting for vitrified paving now.

Vitrified Paving

The word vitrified technically refers to a conversion/glazing process that turns things into a glass like substance – so ceramic and porcelain are words sometimes used to mean very similar, if not the same, thing – but vitrified paving can look far more natural than you’d usually associate with ceramic or porcelain paviours. The benefits of vitrified paving include exceptional strength, high anti-slip properties and little, to no, water absorption which in turn means high performance and less maintenance requirements.

Of course I’ve only managed to touch upon a few things about paviours within this article – it’s a massive area but other things like colour, shapes, ethical sourcing, bases and the main deal breaker for most of us, price, will have to wait for another day…

Up Front Garden Design

Up Front Garden Design

I thought I’d make a change from normal proceedings this time around, and rather than focus on a garden design principle or tip I thought I’d consider a specific area of our home: often overlooked, but always on view, our front gardens frequently get short shrift when it comes to imaginative home improvement.

Recent trends in front gardens have seen significant increases in full paving practices and substantial reductions in plants both of which have detrimental knock on effects to humans, wildlife and the planet as a whole. It may sound dramatic and it’s easy to think that ‘my little bit’ won’t make a difference but cumulatively lots of ‘little bits’ following these trends are increasing the possibilities of flooding, contributing to climbing urban temperatures and pollution levels, impacting negatively on wildlife and making our environment more fractious, depressing places to live.

It may sound trite to say that a little bit of garden design inspiration can help mitigate these very real threats to ours and our natural world’s existence but if we all start to really think about the space outside our homes as a ‘garden’ first and a car park or a bin store or a mere transition point from a pavement to our front door second, then we just might stand a chance of reversing these damaging trends. Don’t get me wrong, I still stand by the design mantra of ‘form ever follows function’ but there’s no ‘form’ in fully paving a front garden; it is functionality without form and it is that idea – that you have to sacrifice form entirely in order to get a car (as an example) onto your front garden – that I want us all to reconsider. With a little bit of imagination and an application of design principles there is no reason why we can’t have our cake and eat it too i.e. have a functional but still lovely front garden.

So, some top tips for achieving it? Read on…

Hopefully this will give you some ideas of where to start and we can all begin to make our neighbourhoods lovelier places to be! Check out the RHS website too for more ideas about how to green your little bit of grey Britain.

Planning your Patio – the 2 F’s to Success

The Problem with Patios

Patios are often the most expensive part of a garden and because of that are often the most long lived part too so it’s worth trying to get your patio ideas ‘right’ before any build commences. The majority of the times we’re called out to consider a patio redesign it’s because the existing patio isn’t, or is no longer, fit for purpose. But there’s an architectural design saying: ‘form ever follows function’; and if you can keep it in mind when you’re thinking about your new patio the odds are improved that your resulting patio will work for you.

So, what does the phrase mean? Today’s garden design interpretation and application is probably much more relaxed than its pure functionalist creator intended but it generally means thinking about what you want a space for (function) before you start thinking about what it will look like (form). Sounds pretty obvious right? You’d probably be surprised at how many patios we come across that didn’t apply the idea!

Take the ‘usual’ positioning of a patio as an example. 9.9 times out of 10 it’s right outside the back (aptly named!) patio doors. Accepting the fact that many people inherit a patio with the house they buy you’d still probably be surprised at how many people, when in control of one do just ‘put’ their patio outside the back doors of their house because that’s where they’ve traditionally been placed, rather than actively making the decision because it’s the best place to suit their own needs. But if, for example, my client is a sun lover who wants to sit in the sun as much as possible and the house casts the patio in shade all day her functional requirements aren’t being met by this particular space.

In this shady, back of house scenario; my sun loving client would be best served by positioning her patio in the place that gets the most sun in her garden with the space being big enough to allow plenty of sunbathing opportunities while offering enough privacy and seclusion from neighbours, for instance, so the planting and things adjacent to the patio may end up being just as important as the patio itself, in terms of meeting its functional goals. My large dinner party hosting clients on the other hand, living in the adjoining house, would appreciate a patio big enough to accommodate a large table and chairs, as near to their kitchen as can be. And for my sun loving clients who also love to throw al fresco dinner parties? For them it’s probably a two patio design because a single patio wouldn’t be able to quite accommodate their dual functional requirements adequately.

The ‘form’ of the patio areas would then begin to fall out of their proposed functions and in these very simplified examples their position has already fallen out of them so now it’s time to consider size, shape, materials, aesthetics, incorporation into the wider garden, lesser functional requirements, etc.

For the dinner party couple, for instance flat, slip free surfaces accommodate tables and chairs best so paviors are the obvious choice here. The size of the patio needs to accommodate their overly large dining table and chairs with enough space to get around them comfortably when they are in use. The position of their patio next to the house requires careful drainage solutions and a robust build. The transitions from the house to the patio, and then from the patio to beyond, need careful consideration both in terms of their look and their usability; the materials and use of them need to aesthetically tick the boxes from viewpoints both outside and inside the house, in all seasons and all of these things, and more, need to be considered with budget very firmly in mind.

It is all a tricky balancing act but if you can remember the phrase you’ll stand a better chance of success with your patio.

Now you see it – magical garden design

Garden Designer as Magician?

Before we start I do want to make clear that garden designers are not magicians! We can’t pull a rabbit out of a hat or find a fortune for you behind your ear but that said garden designers do have a few tricks up their sleeves that, like magicians, depend on the powers and skills of misdirection, and dare I say it, manipulation.

The garden designer’s motivation for using such skills is fairly benign: how can we hide this ugly corner, for instance, or make the garden feel bigger, smaller, longer, wider, shorter, more intimate or more expansive; I’m sure you get the picture! We often want things we haven’t got or struggle to deal effectively with things we have and gardens are no different – thank goodness then for some of the tried and tested illusionary tools in the arsenal of a garden designer…

I’ve barely scratched the surface of this subject, it’s as expansive as the results appear magical, but hopefully it will give you an insight into some of the ways garden designers achieve some of the effects they do.

A Garden for all Seasons

snow covered hydrangea

A garden isn't just for summer - it's for 12 months of the year!

Some people often think that as soon as the leaves fall and the dark nights come everything stops in the garden.  Well, they couldn’t be more wrong – while, for most of the year your garden is an entertaining space,  a playground for children or a showcase for your favourite plants – it’s also there for 12 months of the year and since I’m sure you’ll be able to see it from more than one window of your home, it's also a winter vista, so why not make the most of it?

Personal Style

We all have a preferred way we like our home and gardens to look and that identity is very personal, it isn’t right or wrong, it is just our choice.  Some people like to have their garden pristine with lawn edges sharp, any sign of dead or decaying plants quickly removed; perennials that are beginning to die down and over winter underground are swiftly cut back.  This results in a very neat and tidy garden for winter which more often than not just leaves the evergreen plants or shrubs and any deciduous trees or shrubs as the only structure in the garden.

Other people will remove anything that is dead, diseased or damaged and remove any fallen leaves but leave  perennials with seed heads throughout the winter.  This does have its advantages with seed heads swaying in the breeze and glistening on a frosty morning providing something different to look at over the winter.  Of course, the other benefit is to the insects as this will provide them with places to overwinter.

Regardless of your style the autumn and winter are a great time to ask yourself:

Planning Ahead

These questions are really helpful  to prolong the interest in your garden through the winter – but can also be considered in other months too.  A photo diary can help too – take photos throughout the year to see if there are any places that have bare patches, are less interesting or even are too full.  This helps you plan but a few things you can do to make sure your garden does its job for the full 12 months are:

Go ahead, enjoy your winter garden.  If you need any help or advice please do contact Nicki at Blue Daisy.