Are you thinking of designing your front garden?

This is the first thing people see before they step into your house. It is also seen by people walking past. So in some cases you may want a little privacy. Whatever you want though it needs to look and feel good good and to do this you need a couple of things

All Year Round Colour

Something to look at all year round is necessary for the front garden, let’s face it bear earth is not that attractive and certainly not what you want to see all through the winter. So some good evergreen plants giving shape and structure are ideal clipped Yew, Box or Holly

Lights along the path

Lights are important, if you’re returning from work the odd plant illuminated by the garden path or the windows is a cheery thing to look at. The leaves glisten in the winter rain or sparkle in the frost. e.g. Skimmia’s, giving lovely red berries or Garraya elliptica ‘James Roof’ with its greenish flowers in pendent catkin-like racemes

You’re also are less likely to trip up and can easily open your door with lighting helping you find the key hole

Scent

Adding scent to a front garden is also a lovely idea, taking away the smell of the traffic and delighting people before they step into your house. Scents can be all year round from the winter scents of Christmas box ‘Sarcocca confuse’, to the summer smells of Lavender

If you’re looking for some help designing your front garden Samantha Willis can help you make the most of it. Samantha has nursed a lifelong love of gardening which is reflected in her award-winning designs.

Based in the Cotswolds, she regularly works throughout the surrounding locations, including Chipping Norton and Woodstock. She has also produced gardens throughout Gloucestershire and Cornwall. She can help you develop a beautiful front garden.. Her services include briefs, sketch proposals, tenders and actual construction.

From design to execution, she’ll overlook the entire process and lay the foundations for your dream front garden

Lighting your Garden

If you’re thinking of lighting your garden consider two things firstly there is the health and safety issue; can you actually get down steps or along your path and to a front door? Can you insert the keys in the lock without cursing that you can’t see a thing? Do you need lights for security reasons?

Once you’ve considered the functional aspects there is the aesthetics of lights. At this time of year lighting can really bring a little warmth and emphasises st ructure from lighting the path to focusing on key features. So whilst you may not want to sit out and enjoy your garden in mid winter you can still admire aspects of it and then in the summer you get to sit out and enjoy it.

Up-lighting trees is a beautiful feature, emphasizing the shape and texture in the winter where their branches reach into the darkness and in the summer evening it highlights the leaves gently dancing in the breeze. If you want to see a fantastic display of illuminated trees prior to Christmas visit Westonbirt Arboretum if you live near by.

Spot lighting some small shubs such as Cornus with it’s bold red or yellow stems adds some colour to the garden or focusing on statues where you can either throw light on the item or place the lighting behind it giving intrigue.

Lighting can give a magical element to the garden and enable you to focus on a particular object, in one garden we’ve used LED lights behind a water feature enabling it to float along the patio in the evening, where in the daylight it is a bold stone trough.

So now is the time to have a look at your garden, what would you like to see illuminated at this time of year? If you were looking out of your window what would you like to see?

Designing a Front Garden

Are you thinking of designing your front garden?

All Year Round Colour

Lights along the path

Scent

Lighting your garden

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