Design detail for the contemporary Sevenoaks garden project

We have also recently completed a pub garden for ‘The Humphrey Bean’ Weatherspoons in Tonbridge, open for the May-Day bank holiday, so if you are in the area pop in for some lunch and then let us know what you think of the new garden! It includes an artificial lawn area – gasp! New & re-juvinated planting for the existing borders and existing containers and a brand new stainless steel outdoor kitchen/ serving area, perfect for bbq’s.

Current mood board for the contemporary Sevenoaks garden project

Other projects are coming in too, although this wet April and May has not helped matters! We have confirmed an interesting contemporary project near Sevenoaks (see above design proposal). This design includes pleached trees as a new rear screening boundary with tidy, linear evergreen hedges along the existing RH and LH boundaries. We will hopefully be constructing a new garden building in the top RH corner, in a very contemporary glass-fronted style, possibly with a green roof of some sort. This will be surrounded by a deck walkway leading to a seperate honed limestone terrace in the top LH corner. Between these will be a potential focal water feature with feature wall behind. Other potential features include raised beds with a contemporary mixed planting scheme and a re-turfed lawn edged with a box hedge.

If you think this sounds like your sort of garden, feel free to email us at nursery@millhouselandscapes.co.uk to arrange a consultation to discuss your ideas!

Watering with watering cans, trickle irrigation systems or seep hoses has not been banned currently.

Use as many water butts & water storage containers as you have space for, to catch all available downpour.

When watering plants – water in the morning, or in the evening – less water is lost through evaporation this way.

Provide some shelter; walls, fences or screens – even temporary ones, to avoid the soil drying out quickly.

Invest in some water-storing granules to use when planting up spring & summer containers, hanging baskets etc.

Collect uncontaminated grey water from the bath or kitchen sink for extra garden watering.

When watering, try and water directly to the root-balls of plants, avoiding the foliage.

Plant trees and shrubs in well-rotted organic material or water-retaining compost.

Use a good layer of mulch when planting – a layer of at least 5cm.

Choose plant species which have been proven reliably drought tolerant! (Even these will need plenty of water whilst they establish).

                                                                                                     

Daphne odora ‘Aureomarginat

We have designed and built quite a few front gardens recently, it seems people are willing to put in more effort with their front gardens, in order to sell their houses at better prices. This is really good for us as it motivates other home-owners in the area to do the same. So we decided to put together 10 of our favourite suggestions to include in your front garden planting schemes…

 1). Sarcococca confusa or Sarcococca digyna var Humilis – Evergreen, berries for the birds, small, sweet smelling flowers during January & February. Place them near to your front door for a burst of scent when leaving the house. Will grow happily even in the deepest shade

2). Daphne odora ‘Aureomarginata’ – it’s a slow starter but that means less maintenance, glossy, evergreen foliage and dense clusters of beautifully scented flowers in the dreary winter months – another plant which is best along the path or near the front entrance. It is a tidy and compact shrub that is well worth the wait.

3). Gaultheria procumbens – Checkerberry is a creeping ground-cover plant. It has evergreen foliage which is tinted red in winter. It also has bright red berries November to February, making it an attractive and cheerful little plant when not much else is happening outside. It has small white bell like flowers. Grows best in sun or partial shade but it will tolerate shady areas.

4). Choisya ‘Aztec Pearl’ – good species for quite sunny front gardens. Delicate evergreen foliage with pretty, white and sweet smelling flowers around May, and sometimes a second flush later in the year. Another shrub with a nice neat outline, it requires no pruning, training or any other time consuming maintenance activities.

5). Ajuga reptans ‘Caitlins Giant’. This Bugle variety is really good for the front of border ground cover. Deep purple-bronze foliage colour makes it a very attractive herbaceous evergreen which can look after itself. It will grow in practically any conditions and has the added bonus of big blue flower spikes in Spring.

6). Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’ – a catmint, fantastic for edging paths with a sea of bright blue flower spikes. The foliage, when crushed, has a strong citrus-scent, making it a good choice as path edging. Good in sun or partial shade. Cut back after flowering to encourage more flowers or cut back hard in Autumn for good re-growth in the next season.

7). Pittosporum tenuifolium – from New Zealand originally, this fast-growing shrub has wavy, mid-sized, evergreen leaves, some varieties have silvery or purple foliage, some have mottled colouring, some are a bright, mid green. There are bell-shaped in-significant flowers in Spring. It is slightly tender but it makes a very pretty background plant that can fit in nearly every planting scheme.

8). Carex oshimensis ‘Evergold’ – Japanese Sedge. Evergreen variegated foliage, it forms a nice, rounded and bright clump which brightens up the front of a border. Likes a moist soil, so don’t situate it somewhere that dries out too easily.

9). Euphorbia amygdaloides ‘Purpurea’ – This Euphorbia variety has vivid, young red shoots and leaves, maturing to a purple-maroon colour. It has green-yellow flowers in Spring, which last until Summer. It grows well in poor soils in sun or partial shade.

10). Lonicera japonica ‘Halliana’ –Honeysuckle. A woody, twining deciduous climber that is best situated on a bright, sunny wall or arch frame near to the front door. It bears pretty summer flowers which are highly fragrant and white in colour, changing to yellow from June onwards.

Never be tempted to plant a Monkey Puzzle or a Leylandii in your front garden… unless you can measure your garden by acres and not metres!

The awards, which are sponsored by Bradstone, are now in their 16th year. They were begun in order to recognise and promote the very best in landscaping skills and design undertaken by APL members. The categories range from smaller budget projects and special garden features to contracts of over £100,000. The awards are a celebration of the high standards that have been achieved by members and demonstrate the APL’s commitment to quality landscaping.

The ceremony lunch took place on Wednesday the 14th March at Kensington Roof Gardens, and was a very enjoyable and well-attended occasion, with fantastic food and and an entertaining closing speaker, Luke Cunliffe – a motivational ultra-marathon junkie. Luke was very entertaining with his training experiences, and at the same time, encouraged everyone to step out of their comfort zone and strive to achieve more.

This year’s judges were Mark Gregory (APL Chairman and Chair of Judges), James Steele-Sargent (Arun Landscapes), Adam Frost (Adam Frost Designs), Jo Thompson, (Jo Thompson Designs), Juliet Roberts (Gardens Illustrated magazine), and Jason Lock, (DeakinLock Garden Design).

For more information on the entries and award winners this year, see the APL website; www.landscaper.org.uk

The winning project entry

The award winning scheme by Millhouse Landscapes showed a clean simple design using Ipe hardwood decking, stainless steel balustrades, off white rendered walls and a vast basalt paved driveway and steps. Later inclusions to the design included a high-tech car port and reflective mirror pools.

The high quality of the landscaping features won over the judges

For more info on this project, or if you would like us to create something similar in your own garden, call our design office on 01732 590130 or email nursery@millhouselandscapes.co.uk

Ipe decking on the upper and lower terrace

 So, the design office has kicked of this new year for us with some very good news – one of our previous projects been short-listed for a 2011 APL Award. The APL are the Association of Professional Landscapers, an official group representing around 200 of the best garden landscaping companies in this country. We only joined them last year so we are really pleased to be nominated for an award already.

Tim Williams, the Millhouse Landscapes director said, “We’re incredibly pleased to be shortlisted for the APL Award. Simply being in the final few shows the level of hard work and dedication the team takes on every project undertaken.”

Millhouse was nominated for the accolade for its work on a Huf House Tunbridge Wells, which has already won the Best Large Garden Category in the 2007 BALI Awards.

 The awards take place on Wednesday 14th March, at the beautiful Kensington Roof Gardens, so please keep your green-fingers and toes crossed for us!!

January was a little bit quiet, which is always to be expected; it takes people (us included!) a while to get over the Christmas and New Year activities, to settle back down to work again and for the tiny seeds of the new years potential home and garden improvements to begin germinating…

February picked up the pace at a good rate. We have had quite a few leads come in, the majority are generated from our website www.millhouselandscapes.co.uk and some through word of mouth combined with our presence on-site at the Coolings nursery in Knockholt, Sevenoaks. Over the last month we have visited potential clients in Challock, West Wickham and Bromley to name but a few.

A couple of new queries this year already, have come from previous clients with new gardens. It is great to hear about how people have enjoyed the gardens we created for them years ago and is always a good excuse for lots more tea and biscuits…

]]> http://www.millhouselandscapes.co.uk/677/feed/ 0 http://www.millhouselandscapes.co.uk/video/ http://www.millhouselandscapes.co.uk/video/#comments Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:50:09 +0000 admin http://www.millhouselandscapes.co.uk/?p=662 Millhouse Landscapes has been designing and building stunning gardens for many years. These short videos from the archives delve into our history and give an idea of garden design through the years.

The Secret of Beautiful Gardens

This short video, filmed in 1991 and presented by Peter Alliss, shows some of the work that Millhouse Landscapes have carried out.

Open House

Millhouse Landscapes was asked to supply some designs for various gardens for daytime television show, Open House.

The APL Awards, now in its 16th year, acknowledges outstanding garden design and landscaping, and we are pleased to announce that we have been entered into Category 5 for project values between £60K and £100k.

APL chair and chair of the judging panel Mark Gregory said, “The reputation of these Awards is growing year on year due to the ever increasing quality of workmanship. The 2011 Awards attracted some fantastic entries despite being a challenging year for many in the trade and we hope to build on this with the 2012 Awards.”

He adds ”The Awards provide a great opportunity for businesses to showcase their work and shout about their success.”

Tim Williams of Millhouse Landscapes said, “We’re incredibly pleased to be shortlisted for the APL Award. Simply being in the final few shows the level of hard work and dedication the team takes on every project undertaken.”

Millhouse was nominated for the accolade for its work on a Huf House Tunbridge Wells, which has already won the Best Large Garden Category in the 2007 BALI Awards.

The winners of each category will be announced at the APL Awards lunch, on March 14. For more details, visit the Association of Professional Landscapers website.

The photos as shown on this page indicate all the above just after completion of whole project