Our Services
Alongside these services we also offer Design and Project management, Living Willow Structures and Practical Help
Carefully planning, sourcing & installing plants for a beautiful and thriving garden. Prices are based on the size and complexity of the brief.
A chance to pick my brains about your garden and perhaps learn the skills that will give you the confidence to enjoy maintaining your plot. I can advise on individual plants, soil types and garden tasks and techniques.
To utilise the existing features, and suggest perhaps a new perspective on making the most of your garden. We will meet to discuss your requirements and I can work with your landscaper or can recommend contractors and suppliers as appropriate. Local quotes are free.
#worldsoilday
We are losing soil at a completely unsustainable rate. According to The Soil Association ‘the equivalent of 30 football pitches of fertile soil every minute’ and yet it takes over 500 years to form 1 inch of top soil.
7 Favourite Plants for Drought AND What is ‘Chop & Drop’?
It’s been an interesting summer so far to say the least. One which will be remembered for its heat and lack of rain. It has felt like August since June, except hotter. Here, we are scratching our heads wondering if its a blip or a sign of the times.
Derbyshire Wildlife Trust Garden – RHS Chatsworth 2018
Congratulations to both Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and the Experian volunteer team who did a great job building the stand for RHS Chatsworth flower show.
Designing Resilient Gardens
So what exactly does the future hold? Along with a likely frost-free Britain, climate change is forecast to generate greater variables in the weather; more storms, more rainwater, and then longer hot dry spells; so resilient plants will become imperative. We will have a longer growing season and therefore can utilise plants from arid countries
Why Wild Gardens for Children?
In the good old days, children played outdoors for hours, only coming home when they were hungry – isn’t that the story? Well it’s not quite how I remember it but apparently now, the majority of children today spend less than 60 mins outside a day, which is less than prison inmates.
My Irish Road Trip & Thoughts on Plastic
We spent our sunset walk picking up plastic bottles, lids, toothbrushes, toys and straws, some of it was broken and unidentifiable. It was food for thought. This coincided with another big push in the media about the single use plastic issue and ocean pollution. They say every bit of plastic that was ever made still exists – somewhere. The irony of gardeners, nature lovers, producing a material which is not digestible by the earth makes me ponder the plastic plant pot issue which plagues the industry.
Testimonials
As a trade stand exhibitor at the RHS shows I have worked with Renee on my planting requirements for a couple of shows to bring my stand to life. The pressure of doing the planting at a Royal Horticultural Flower Show is best left to the experts!
Renee listened to my needs and reflected my inspiration in her choice of plants, she delivered on trend planting that was much admired by visitors to the show and I was delighted with. I would definitely work with Renee again.
Emma Britton, Decorative Glass Designer
Renee absolutely transformed our garden from a paved over patch of cement to a beautiful and tranquil space for all to enjoy in the Puzzle Gardens area of Wirksworth. I am looking forward to working with her again this year as the plants grow bigger we continue to add new elements to the space. Renee has a unique creative talent and is professional and responsive in her work.
L. Acharya, Wirksworth
Renee’s enthusiasm, professionalism and creative eye was already well known to the Trust so when the opportunity came up to develop a garden for RHS Chatsworth we knew who to collaborate with.
Renee’s powerful and flexible design illustrated the charities Living Landscape strategy in the form of a contemporary, garden space; winning 3 RHS Gold Stars as a result.
Jack Roper, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust
We are tackling a fairly large project and Renee has allowed us to turn our vision into reality with inspiration, advice and knowledge from the very start.
She has grasped the essence of our brief so quickly and worked with both the period of our property and the local area to design our outdoor space balancing form, function and play.
She designs in an effortless style, very natural but also sophisticated and has a wide network of craftsmen that can incorporate wonderful details into the scheme.
I look forward to and thoroughly enjoy each of our meetings when I feel ideas get flowing and can’t wait for the next stage of design and planting to start.
The garden looks transformed already and we’ve only just started the project.
I would recommend Renee highly if you love gardens but are unsure on how to turn yours from dream to reality.
S. Cooper. Derby
We asked Renee to design our front garden – she did an amazing job of understanding and interpreting our vague requirements! She brought in elements we hadn’t considered (like pollution resistant plants because of the proximity to the road) and enhanced our own ideas. She used local craftspeople and supplies as we requested, and created a beautiful space in a tiny area that gives us delight every time we come in and out of the house. I can’t wait to see what she suggests for our back garden next year!
C Brown, Wirksworth
Renee,
You helped me in exactly the way I needed. You’ve given me the confidence and motivation to start doing some specific plant removal. With your advice in my mind I resisted pruning today but look forward to some warmer days to start shaping the garden more. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and for the boost to get going.
It’s great to have the list of plants you identified (and much easier for me to quickly reference a book with the name to secure an image to re-identify the plant if I forget!) and I really appreciate the follow-up email with your findings. I like the sound of some of the additional planting ideas and the tips on planting my herb garden will be really useful.
