Samantha Willis Garden Design

Samantha Willis Garden Design

Garden Design Chipping Norton

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Garden Design Chipping Norton

The Garden was a muddy slope in the Cotswolds but we worked with the builders who were renovating the property to create a garden that works with the house. We created raised beds, patio areas and seating areas. We also designed the lighting and irrigation needs for the garden to create a low maintenance garden in the Cotswolds.

Originally a muddy slope we created a garden in Chipping Norton working with the landscapers, electricians and the builders to create the relaxed low maintenance garden.

5 years later I visited the garden and here are the results.

This garden style is a relaxed country garden that uses roses, nepeta and lavender as key plants. Whilst is looks lush and full of plants the garden design tip here for low maintenanc is small borders. The borders are no more than a meter wide. The different levels with plants at each step creates the illusion of a lush garden.

If you’re looking for a low maintenance garden design in Chipping Norton or around please feel free to reach out and contact us

#GardenRenovation
#BorderDesign
#GardenDesignCotswolds
#GardenDesignOxford
#Landscaping
#Maintenance

Please don’t hesitate to contact us for an informal chat

Garden Design in Bampton

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Garden Design in Bampton

The village of Bampton is a gorgeous village with a beautiful church and stunning houses and cottages in the honey toned Cotswold stone. The front of the houses are dripping with Wisteria at this time of year.

We’ve been working in Bampton and it’s always fun to learn a litle about the place. Cotswolds Tourism says Bampton was mentioned in the Doomsday book dating back to 1086.
It was also part of the filming for Downton Abbey a series I loved. How many scenes were there by this church with Mary pouring her heart out.

When I’m not enjoying Downton Abbey I’m a garden designer with 15+ years experience. Bampton Church

If you’re looking for a little garden inspiration please call and we can help you get the garden you want. Sam is a local award winning garden desiger with 15+ years experience working in the oxfordshire and Cotswolds. We develop gardens from small courtyard gardens to large country houses.

If you’re looking for a garden design in Bampton or around Chipping Norton please don’t hesitate to contact us for an informal chat to see what you need.

We can help with
Border Design – simply updating your existing borders
Garden Design – a complete review of the garden
Landscaping – turning the vision into reality
Maintenance – to keep the garden looking lovely

Please don’t hesitate to call

#gardendesignbampton
#gardendesigneroxfordshire
#gardenmaintenencebampton
#downtonabbey

Creating Beautiful Summer Borders

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Creating Beautiful Summer Borders in Oxfordshire and Surrounding Areas

Spring has started with the plants coming into leaf and leaping out of the ground. Now is the time to start sitting and enjoying the garden.
Creating a Beautiful summer border consider the colour scheme that you’d like to include. If you have a shady garden pale colours will lighten up the area. Sunny Borders can cope with hot colours such as vibrant yellow and oranges. The sunny border can include blue, pink and white reflecting the poem by Siegfield Sasson where he wanted to enjoy the English garden.

It is always good to bring harmony into the garden with repeat planting. If you look in the countryside around you in the Cotswolds you will notice the same plants. This harmony is soothing to the eye and this can be repeated in the garden. Remember less is more and creating harmony rather than adddin more plants will be pleasing to the eye.

Before you start your create your summer border ensure you prepare the border dig through the soil and remove weeds
Once planted the plants will need watering and weeding

We can help you create and plan a summer border and will provide maintenance if you need assistance please contact us .

Summer Boders

Creating Beautiful Summer Borders

Plant of the Month April

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Plant of the Month April

Known as Bleeding Heart due to it’s lovely heart shaped flowers. One of the first herbaceous plants to flower in April. It doesn’t just come with pink heart shaped flowers but also white and red. The latin name is Lamprocapnos spectabilis (formerly Dicentra spectabilis).

Fun Fact why do plants have latin names? Plants have Latin names for a universal, precise, and unambiguous way to identify and classify them. There are no variations to the latin definitions. Although we do of course have our own country names for plants the latin names are known and understood by all plantsmen.

Pink heart shaped flowers in April

Bleeding Heart

If you’d like some help with your borders to have all year round colour not just for the Plant of the Month please don’t hesitate to contact us

Samantha Willis Garden Design Oxfordshire

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Samantha Willis Garden Design

We offer a complete garden design and build for your garden. From a small courtyard garden to a large country house.

With 15 years experience designing gardens in Oxfordshire and surrounding counties. Please don’t hesitate to contact us for an informal discussion

Our services include:

Garden Design and build in the Cotswolds view from house

Grass Growing final step to the garden design in the Cotswolds


Garden Design – This includes a complete design of your garden
Border Design – The structure of the garden is fine but the borders need some work. We’ll look at existing plants and review how to improve your borders
Landscaping – We bring in a team of landscapers to build the garden and oversee the project to ensure you get the garden you want.

Garden Inspiration

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Garden Inspiration for Courtyard Garden

This was a north facing courtyard garden in Oxfordshire. The kitchen was very dark and gloomy and the garden was too.
The brief was to create a garden where more than one person could sit and to provide vegetation and plants from the house.
They loved the Meditteranean styles and bold colours.

Garden Inspiration to brighten up a courtyard Garden
We painted the walls a bright sunny colour which then reflected into the kitchen. We all know what it feels like when the sun starts shining and providing light into the house. We attempted to do this with the colours.
Garden Accessories, we added garden accessories that were gold, the bird feeder and ornamental balls caught the sun and added a bit of glow to the garden. Imagine the beach when the sun glistens on the sea, we created these little jewel like sparkles. The mirror again added some more light into the kitchen as it bounced more light into the garden area.
Seating is especially important in a small courtyard garden. Sometimes furniture is too dominating and so we build the garden seat and bench. Big enough for 4 people to actually sit in the garden. The seating was also designed for maximum storage with a log store and an area for the cushions under the seat.

So if you’re looking for some garden inspiration for your courtyard garden please contact us. What ever you’re style we can create the garden you want. Please contact us for more information

Garden Border Design

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Garden Border Design

We offer Garden Border Design.Sometimes you don’t need a complete redesign of your garden but your borders need tidying. We can offer this.
Herbaceous plants might have got too woody and need dividing. Your shrubs may have taken over a little and need pruning. There may be gaps in the borders.

We come and review what is already in your garden and how to improve your garden border. We listen to what you want in your garden and take a brief.
Then we review what tasks are needed to rebalance the garden.

Garden design isn’t all about starting afresh but working with what is already in the garden. Buddleja area often thugs in the garden but area beautiful shrubs that attract insects. They can tolerate a really hard prune which bring the flowers back to eye level. A chance to stare at butterflies in the garden in the summer months, how enjoyable.

Border Design

Border Design

In all stages of the garden we liaise with you and agree what are the next steps. We can create a garden plan for you to execute the next steps at certain times of the year or create the borders you want. So if you’re looking for a garden design in oxfordshire or surrounding counties please don’t hesitate to contat us.

Gardens do need some love and attention. Once the area is planted shrubs need pruning at different times of the year. Herbaceous plants need cutting back in the winter. We can also help with maintenance advice.

Please contact us to discuss what you’d like in your garden

#GardenDesignOxfordshire
#GardenDesignerOxford
#GardenDesignCotswolds
#GardenDesignerCotswolds
#GardenDesignChippingNorton
#GardenDesignDeddington

Valentine Inspiration

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Valentine Inspiration

A Rose By Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet

Valentine is the time of roses but if you have a garden enthusiast you could try giving an actual rose and the Rose Black Baccara is a stunner. The only problem is roses are still dormant at this time of year. A garden enthusiast will love it though. You might want something that looks a little more cheery.

Red Rose

Rose Black Baccara

Pansies and meaning of flowers

If you need some other valentine inspiration try some pansies. Whilst they might not seem alot they have a meaning. In the language of flowers pansies were traditionally given to symbolise that the giver was thinking of you. So why not get some pansies and show the person you love that you’re thinking of them.

Pansies available in most garden centres and Happy Valentines

#Gardentips
#GardendesignerOxford
#GardendesinOxford
#GardendesignCotswolds
#GardendesignerCotswolds

Garden Ideas for Shade Garden

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Garden Ideas for a Shade Garden

Not all plants thrive in the same location. On holiday in the Meditteranean you see lavender and rosemary enjoying the sunshine. These plants will not thrive in any location, they will not be happy in the shade. They revel in the sun of the mediterranean.

There are beautiful plants that do enjoy the shade and give off beautiful scents. Here are some garden ideas for a Shade in the Winter

Garden Ideas for Shade
Daphne Aumarginata is a lovely evergreen shade shrub and provides a beautiful scent in the winter months.
Sarcocca confuxa the Christmas Box is a fantastic plant for semi shade. It can be a hedge or a single shrub and the beautiful honey scent is delightful when planted near a door.

A larger shrub is Winter Sweet Chimoneanthus praecox. Chimonanthus literally means winter flower in Greek. This shrub can grow to be quite large so plant carefully. It is a good back of the border plant. If however you can plant it back of the border near an area that you will walk past you will be delighted. On sunny days in the cold winter months you will enjoy the the delightul fragrance. The scent is a sweet spicy scent and it is surprising that the smell comes from such small flowers.

For some smaller ground cover plants the Helleborus orientalis is delightful and if you remove the leaves the flowers look increadible this time of the year. If you live near Woodstock a local nursery has some lovely Hellebores Bunkers Hill

If you are looking for some garden ideas for a Shade Garden please feel free to contact us

#GardenIdeas
#ShadeGarden
#GardendesignerOxford
#GardendesinOxford
#GardendesignCotswolds
#GardendesignerCotswolds

Plant of the Month

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Plant of the Month

Sarcocca confusa is a dense evergreen shrub that has sweet scented flowers in the winter. Although they may not look much the scent is amazing. The sweet honey scent of the plant lingers in the air. Planting a Sarcocca Confusa near your door or by a path that you will walk by in the winter will give you delightful treat. The Sarcocca is also called the Christmas Box but it is not related to the Box family.

This plant will work well as a hedge. It could be an ideal substitue to box if you want a more relaxed hedge that can be easily clipped. The sarcocca confusa can also be a stand alone shrub. It is not a fast growing but will grow to 1.5M. This Plant of the Month does not like full sun. An ideal aspect is North, East or West facing.

When the flowers fade there will be small black berries. These are a great food source for the birds in the winter.

Plant of the Month

Sarcocca confus plant of the month

For garden help please contact us

#plant of the month
#gardenideas
#GardendesignerOxford
#GardendesinOxford
#GardendesignCotswolds
#GardendesignerCotswolds

About

My love for gardening started with my Nan where she nurtured her Cornish garden often rising at 5 to set to before the heat of the summer… MORE

How does it work?

My practice is based in Oxford. I work with small professional teams to develop everything from the tiniest urban hideaway to large country gardens... MORE

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I’d love to hear about your upcoming project. Give me a call today on 0771 858 6105 or contact me via this website.

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