Paul Williams the Garden Designer
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Good garden design comes from a developed understanding between the owner and the designer so that by getting to know each other the final design satisfies the owner’s aspirations and is sympathetic to the site and location.
Gardens fulfil a wide range of functions. They can be an extension of your indoor space and continue your interior themes to the outdoors, they can be a football pitch for children, they can be a work of art providing inspirational colour and form or they can be a place to go to away from the house; they can be a site for your office, they can provide you with fresh vegetables and somewhere to run chickens. A garden can be minimal maintenance or offer intense involvement – you choose. Whatever function your garden fulfils it is a very important part of your well being and enjoyment of life.
Plants are an important, but surprisingly often overlooked, part of a garden. My extensive plant knowledge allows me to specialise in plant use and to create distinctive plantings using a wide range of plants.
All my designs are put together with an eye on their ease of maintenance and practical management as well as the construction budget.
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The plants in your garden have a huge affect on its character and mood.
Experience and an extensive plant knowledge allow me to design planting schemes that can cover the whole spectrum of styles from cottage garden frippery to stark modernity, from alpine garden to arboretum.
I particularly enjoy working with herbaceous perennials which, contrary to given wisdom, do not have to be high maintenance, in fact, I would argue that by careful selection a planting of perennials need be no more work than a planting of shrubs and will always be ten times more exciting. Perennials allow you to play with colour height and texture like no other group of plants.
Of course, a mix of both shrubs and perennials where each is a foil to the other, offers the best of both worlds.
Mid October mix of shrubs perennials.
The larger the garden the more important it is to have an overall plan where each part of the garden is designed bearing in mind its effect on, and its interaction with, other parts of the garden.
Even if the whole garden is not developed at once a master plan considering the whole site is important to avoid a messy piece meal effect with disconnected garden features.
Here a walled garden with an existing formal carp pool was designed to create sight lines that lead both out to, and in from, the surrounding garden, secluded areas contrasting with open lawn, screened walkways, shaded eating areas and a long season of colourful planting.
