greencube garden and landscape design, UK

Harriet and I have worked this year on some interesting projects including this one.  Three small terraced gardens to help promote how we can make a difference and encourage and embrace wildlife. Hopefully gaining interest from developers, large and small to stop installing the 1.8 metre high fences with concrete gravel boards and rectangular indian sandstone paving. Here's what you could do on a postage stamp of 5m x 3.3m garden on a low budget. The three gardens include: 1. bug hotel 2. shallow dish for birds, hedgehogs and others to drink and bathe 3. nectar rich planting for bees and butterflies 4. tunnelled homes for hedgehog hibernation 5. soft boundaries to allow wildlife to move through easily 6. native hedging 7. decaying wood to encourage beetles and other insects in greencube contact greencubed.co.uk/contact/contact.html

greencube's ornamental grass and perennial  border  Here in my own garden, I took time out on Friday evening after mowing the lawn to take some photos, the sun was low and the light was soft.  The front window of the studio looks out onto this border. This is the border that sweeps around the drive now in its third year, the structural layer consists of Buxus cubes and Euphobia wulfennii with large swathes of Calamagrostis  'Karl Foerster', Miscanthus sinensis 'Gracillimus' mixed with a tapestry of perennials and bulbs planted en-masse. Our soil is incredibly sandy and so drought tolerant plants are used but I do feed and mulch with mushroom and green compost with added fertiliser every year to give the plants their best shot. Here is Papaver 'Patsy's Plum' which I sowed from seed, now doing incredibly well. New in the border this year seems to be a favourite at Chelsea also. Its a new plant called Lysimachia atropu

I visited rhs chelsea on Tuesday late afternoon and evening. What really caught my eye was the interesting textures, patterns, colours and  sculptures. John O'Connor's sculptures - eye catching, I can imagine these at night back lit or uplit, quite wonderful.. the body form exagerated or elongated and possibly a little bit haunting made with bronze resin or foundry bronze  All sculptures by John O'Connor My favourite garden has got to be the Cloudy Bay Garden, wonderful, innovative, interesting, thought provoking and different. I adored the roses and poeny's in amongst the grasses punctuated by the vertical elements of Foxgloves, Iris and Verbascum. But mostly impressed by the fact they Andrew and Gavin are not playing the chelsea equation or playing safe.  Designed by Wilson McWilliam Studio One of my favourite combinations found on a trade stand is a grass I dislike normally! as it seeds everywhere and becomes q

I'm a little late publishing this blog, but last bank holiday weekend, I went for a walk with my parents to a local wood nearby and was blown away by the abundance of bluebells growing amongst the  sweet chestnut.  and so I returned the following day and captured a few images - gorgeous, if only the sun had come out and filtered through the canopy I may have got a lovely shot.

Capturing a moment.... So here's my attempt at wildlife photography!! sorry Mike... not up to your standards... This blog is for Ernie, my father in law who built my sparrow flats to exacting requirements. No sparrows yet but Blue tits have moved in and feed relentlessly sometimes visiting chicks 6 times per minute, the chicks can be heard chirping.

capturing some special moments in greencube's own garden, our view from the studio window Here in my own garden th e tulips have been in flower for over 4 weeks now, I took my camera out this week to capture the warm low evening sunshine illuminating th e tulips in the meadow like jewels. We have specified 5 meadows this year in our clients gardens and are always at hand to help with the seed selection, suppliers and increasing the biodiversity to incorporate more than just meadow seed.      The water bowl has frequent visiting birds taking a drink and a wash. This week we have seen a Jay, Wood Pigeons, Black Birds and Blue Tit's using the water bowl right in front of our kitchen doors. The baby Blue Tit's fledged the nest on Wednesday from flat 10 of the sparrow flats.     The fronds of the Dicksonia antartica captured my attention, new life, new fronds, the magic of nature uncurling.  

greencube features in Dutch magazine    Our little new build garden in Folkestone has been given a four page spread in dutch magazine 'tuinieren' google translate helped me out with the heading: 'how to get the most out of a limited area? The owners of this 70 m2  garden  created by designer Mandy buckland the total package: a lawn, three seating areas,  plenty of storage space and flowering plants' You might like the mix of orange and yellow created by Helennium, Coreopsis with pink flowering Diascia   garden designed and planted by greencube, hard landscaping - creative landscapes   see link to media page  http://greencubed.co.uk/media/media.html