As a garden designer, I always try to incorporate design elements which are beneficial to the environment. Whatever the size or the style of your garden there are always things you can do which are easy on the planet and wildlife friendly. You will find below some garden design ideas if you want to convert your outdoor space into a sustainable garden.

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It’s great to be able to see how the garden evolves throughout the year. In terms of design Borde Hill Garden is interesting because it was created as a series of garden rooms: the Italian garden, the Mediterranean garden, the Rose garden… As a visitor you can experience the different atmospheres and pick up many ideas. There is a great variety of plants that you could reuse in your garden.

Garden History:
The garden was created by Colonel Stephenson Clarke. He purchased Borde Hill property in
1893. As a keen naturalist, he extended the planting from the garden to the woodlands and
parkland. As Nymans and others historic gardens in the West Sussex area at this time, many of the trees were collected by the great plant hunters of the 19 th and 20 th centuries.

I particularly recommend:

• The outstanding views on the Ouse Valley on the north side of the garden. In some
  places you will be able to see the Ouse Valley Viaduct.
• Warren Wood (from April to June). Most visitors don’t visit it but it’s a great
  woodland to enjoy the famous bluebells in Spring. Don’t miss out the Handkerchief
  tree (Davidia involucrata).
• A really nice specimen of Cornus kousa on the Azalea ring.
• The spectacular Magolia obovata with large leaves and very flagrant flowers in May
  in the garden of Allah.
• The serenity of the Italian Garden. It was originally the family’s tennis court but was
  converted in 1980 by Robert Stephenson Clarke.

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Garden information:

The garden is open from March to October. Free Entry for RHS members in July and
September only.
There is a plant shop selling herbaceous perennials, rhododendrons, azaleas and David
Austin roses that are flowering in the main Garden. The plants are normally good value for
money. Around £6 for a 2 litre pot and £4 for a 1 litre pot (prices in June 2018)
For more information you can visit the official website.

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Here, I’m going to talk about garden design mistakes I often see in private gardens. This is not an exhaustive list, so feel free to share your experience with us. Let’s learn from our mistakes!

• Placing trees too close to your home is one of the most common garden design mistakes. At the time of planting, a tree looks nice and small and we tend to forget that in a few years the tree will have a much larger scale. When planted too close to the house, the tree will not be able to grow adequately, and all that you will be able to see from the windows will be the trunk.
• An overly small terrace: When you aren’t trained in garden design, it can be hard to establish how to shape your garden terrace. But, you can test out your planned terrace space by simulating how the space will be used with a table and chairs to ensure that they fit. As a general rule for garden design, we recommend a wide terrace of at least 4 to 5m for a family with two children. Feel free to play around with the space on the ground to get a feel for the true size of your planned terrace.
• Multiple materials: Using too many different materials is detrimental to the aesthetics of your garden. When you are short on time and resources, you cannot create your dream garden right away, and the most common mistake in garden design is to use new materials at each new stage of production. As a result, your garden will lose its unique character and its harmonious unity. Try to limit yourself to a set color palette and keep all references for the materials you used in the same way that you keep the color code of the paint that you use in the interior of your house.

There are numerous garden design exemplars to follow, and it is usually sufficient just to stick to a few key principles if you want to avoid garden design mistakes:

• Scale and proportion: If the entrance to your house is imposing in scale, furnish it accordingly by (for instance) adorning it with large pots. On the other hand, you can also sometimes see the most beautiful houses featuring plants in tiny pots. The important garden design principle here is to adapt your layout to the scale that is available to you.
• Another very important element: respect for the principles of cohesion and harmony. Pinterest is a good source of inspiration but what works in one person’s garden may not work in another location. Try to stick to an overarching idea for the design of your garden in order to have a coherent aesthetic and a unity in your garden design. This may sound common sense but thanks to the wide variety of tools available to us today and the increasingly large supply of materials on offer we can quickly find ourselves mixing together disparate styles.

Feel free to tell me about the garden design mistakes you’ve seen !

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