I have been staring out of the window onto my garden a lot in the last few days (in-between writing leaflets and graphic design jobs, and doing the ironing!) And it occurred to me that at the moment my own garden is at the peak of what it does throughout the year. There are plenty of flowers, colours, insects and birds making the most of it and the whole thing just looks full to bursting.

It can’t, won’t, last. By December there will be gaps and the remains of all those herbaceous bits will be brown and dried.

So, later today I’m ging to get out there and take some photos so that, come December, when I want to plan for next year I’ll be able to see that bits that worked, where there needs to be change and if I can cram in some evergreen bits in-between the herbaceous stuff for winter interest.

I’ll also take an overhead photo by looking out of an upstairs window so that I can draw over the top on some tracing paper if I want to make bigger plans.

If you would like a garden designed to suit your lifestyle please contact me to arrange a FREE initial meeting.

Olive trees
There were several old olive trees in gardens at the show with a very old looking one as the centrepiece of the Combat Stress garden in a large planter. It appears that these trees are sometimes saved from development in Italy. They are very attractive and tactile with the leaves having a silvery appearance and the trunk being gnarled and rough.

Raised beds
Many of the gardens featured raised beds and vegetables seemed to feature in a lot of them, sometimes mixed in with more ornamental plants. The Homebase garden featured a series of wooden raised planters stepped up in height and filled with vegetables that looked very good and would be a useful way to grow your vegetables if you lack space.

Agapanthus
Small ones, big ones, from deep blue through to white, these were everywhere and really stood out on long stems above other plants.

White gravel
There was a lot of it around!

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