Great garden landscape design ideas

Planning a garden re-design can be exciting. Maybe you want somewhere pleasant to enjoy the best of British Summertime. Perhaps you want a more exciting space for children to experience the natural world? It could just be that you’re tired of what you have and want more variety? Having a garden that’s simpler and easier to upkeep is a great reason to re-think too.

Garden landscaping is the way to get the most out of whatever space you have and grow plants that add beauty and calm to your property.  Landscaping also lets you implement a practical garden layout that maximises its usefulness and value.

So where do you begin? Here are our answers to common landscape garden design questions. Whether it’s planning and budgeting, finding the right plants or hitting just the right creative notes when your planting and arranging.  Follow this guide to get started on the garden of your dreams.

Landscaping starts with simply looking around for inspiration. You might find it in your local garden centres, gardens shows, parks and public gardens, or even a neighbour’s garden. You need to cast your net widely at first so you can pinpoint what it is you like. Consider the size and dimensions of your garden, and decide what function you want the garden to fulfil. Then you can put pen to paper and sketch out your ideas. After a while, your dream garden landscape will start to take shape.

The shape and size of your garden plot and the direction it faces toward will have a strong influence on the garden’s content and layout. The idea of balance is an accepted principle in good garden design. It means giving equal attention to every area, and bearing in mind that shrubs, plants and flowers will alter shape and size, and bloom at different times across the seasons.

Then there’s the style of garden to consider. Are you more formal and organised in your tastes, or more relaxed and free-wheeling about where things grow and how? Formal gardens are usually geometric and tended carefully to ensure straight lines and shapes. An informal garden will feature more organic placements and shrub shapes, with relaxed planting patterns.

If those two choices seem limiting, remember that there are loads of landscaping styles to choose from. Hard landscaping, using materials like tarmac, metal, and concrete is popular in contemporary design. But if your personal style is more natural and organic, gardens dominated by plants and flowers are perfectly fine. The trick is to create a coherent and harmonious landscape design for your garden.

Common landscape garden design materials you might need include aggregates and sand, bricks, damp-proof landscaping fabric, timber and decking, and exterior paints and finishes.

Landscaping tends to generate a lot of excess material, so you’ll also want to plan for waste removal. Some people prefer to hire a skip; others prefer to have a contractor come and muck away. Visit your local council website for lists of reputable waste removal companies.

City or countryside, the easiest way to add verve to an outdoor space is to plant new flowers, bushes and shrubs. Creating a design with a complementary blend of trees, flowers, or even vegetables will ensure the space is interesting to look at year-round. Before you plant, understand what kind of soil you have, how much sun you can expect, local climate, and which plants best suit those conditions. 

Trees and hedges are great for giving shape and structure to a garden space. To add colour, look to bulbs and bedding plants. Potted plants can add colour quickly, and their portability allows you to rearrange the layout from time to time. No matter what you’re putting in the ground, water them regularly and make sure there’s plenty of drainage.

DIY is all the range in everything related to households and property, and there are plenty of websites, apps, books, YouTube videos and courses out there to help you get started. Most of the materials you’ll need to DIY can be purchased from garden centres. 

Bear in mind how deliveries will get to the garden, especially if it’s enclosed and/or walled-off. Machinery hire might also be necessary, meaning things like a digger or cement mixer to prepare the ground. 

If you’re building a geometric garden, standard items like slabs, bricks, blocks, and wooden boards are all linear-shaped, so perfect when you need to ensure straight lines. If your design favours curves over angles, use more materials that give you more flexibility, like gravel or concrete.

Given the time, effort, planning, cost and work involved in garden landscaping, hiring a professional landscape designer and gardener is well worth the investment. It will eliminate the trial & error that comes with DIY projects and ensure you get the most stunning garden for your budget.

Having a professional handle things is even more critical if you need to alter or install utilities gas, electricity or water pipes. You’ll need a qualified engineer to review the site and requirements in any event. They will identify issues or shortcuts you might have missed, keep everything in line with council rules and regulations.

Landscaping is an intricate process that requires the most advanced gardening techniques from true professionals. Our team of designers understand that no project is the same, and there are several factors to consider when quoting for landscaping work. These include:

• How your current garden looks and what we’ll need to do to prepare it for landscaping
• The size of your garden.
• Whether you require hardscaping too. Water features, pathways and brick walls will increase your overall quote.
• The plants and foliage you choose.

Because of these factors, we prefer to learn more about your requirements and evaluate the garden to give an honest and fair quote. In general, landscaping projects can be as low as £3000 or £90 per square metre and increase from there depending on the above factors.

We pride ourselves on offering high-quality landscape gardening for a reasonable price and know that our expert team produces stunning work that can transform an outdoor space into a welcoming haven.

Whether you’re on a small budget or have a lot of money to spend on your garden, there are plenty of ways to put your unique stamp on your outdoor area. Work out how much you’re willing to pay, and think about the areas you’re willing to compromise on to keep your costs down. You’ll have a beautiful garden in no time!

Council planning rules for gardens and landscaping change from place to place. However, in most cases, some degree of planning permission is needed if you intend to build a wall over 1 metre in height when close to a road or plan to add paving to a front garden. 

You should understand some essential regulations if you’re planning to add an outbuilding to your garden. Understanding what you can and can’t do ensures you won’t have to worry about taking your building down. Make sure that:

• Garden sheds and outbuildings require no planning permission if the building’s floor area is less than 15 square metres. There must be no sleeping accommodation.
• A building between 15-30 square metres requires no planning permission if it’s a minimum of 1 metre away from any boundary OR it’s made from non-combustible materials.
• If you want to build a carport for your home, you won’t need permission as long as it’s no more than 30 square metres. But suppose you’re going to attach a garage to your property. In that case, you’ll need permission unless it’s less than 15 square metres, 1 metre away from any boundary or made of non-combustible materials.
  

To know for sure what restrictions are in place, you’ll need to visit your local council’s planning department. When planning permission is required, there will be forms to fill, often requiring a copy of your plans and fees.

Timelines really depend on the type of project and the scope of your ambitions. If you’ve engaged outside help, they will give you a detailed schedule as part of the statement of work.  Taking things forward in stages usually makes sense if garden landscape design.  It helps control cash flow, and you can bundle tasks into monthly/weekly projects. One tip: do your landscaping in the winter months, so everything’s ready for planting when warm weather arrives.