The rockery A dogwood in blossom

 

Naturalistic, personal and intimate

Artist in the Garden Design is a garden design company with a naturalistic, personal and intimate approach to designing client gardens. We believe that a true garden is much more than just a decorative setting. For some, it is an essential means of self-expression incorporating their philosophies, beliefs and lifestyle while providing an essential connection to the natural world through the window of the personal garden.

The reasons clients have told me for why they garden are diverse, inspiring and many. To create a personal garden with another person is to embark on a shared journey of creation that can be remarkable and transformational to everyone involved.

We work with our clients in many different ways depending on the level of collaboration desired. We can adopt the more traditional approach of planning and installing the garden on the client’s behalf, in close consultation.

Some clients prefer to be more involved in both the planning and the physical installation and we can assume a coaching/teaching role where they can work alongside and learn about their garden.

We might simply go for a stroll through the garden and offer advice on an ad-hoc basis. We can source the right plants, customize and blend soils for the selected plantings, resolve site problems and advise on virtually any aspect of gardening. Not least, we are always mindful and seeking of the artistic in the garden – the compositions, form and foliage, colours, the natural contours and natural features of the site.  

Where appropriate, we experiment with plants and designs to keep our ideas fresh and the end results original and interesting. We don’t have templated solutions – each garden is a unique composite of the owner and of the site.

As I spend more time with more clients, I sense that as our natural landscapes are replaced by housing developments, parking lots and manicured “green spaces”, many of us, consciously or not, feel compelled to replace those losses over which we have no control, with a smaller version of nature over which we do have influence – our gardens. And, not just for ourselves – we are offering to share with our fellow creatures by incorporating water features along with food/sanctuaries for bees, butterflies and birds.

A movement to reclaim our natural world one garden at a time? Perhaps. How wonderfully subversive – gives me great faith in the future!