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Hello and welcome to successful Gardening Design Show. I'm Rachel Mathews and I'm
going to show you how to make the most of your garden by demystifying garden design.
I'm going to show you all the top tricks and secrets that professional garden designers
usually leave out of their books. In each episode, we're going to take a closer look
at what makes a garden work. We're going to dissect designs that Iíve done for clients
and also visit gardens as I tour around Europe looking at some of the most spectacular gardens all across Europe and beyond.
I'm also going to take a look at some of the best
designer products and features on the market that you can put in your garden that will
give it that added wow factor, but I'll also show you the secrets to placing features correctly
because that is key and that makes a big difference and one of my main aims with this series is
to show you that, it's not how much money you spend in your garden, but it's the design
elements that you use. That's what makes the difference. As a professional garden designer,
I've seen people spend thousands and thousands on their garden and not get good results so
this program is designed to make sure that you get the most from your garden for a budget
that suits your taste and needs. We're also going to give you the chance for me to work
on your garden live on the show, but I'll give you details of that at the end of this
episode so now we're going to run through a garden that I've just finished for a client
in California and I'm going to explain what makes the design work, now I'm going to test
you at the end of this so pay very close attention because there will be a question at the end
and there'll be prizes up for grabs so let's get on with today's show.
So, this is the garden that we're going to feature today, now as you can see it's quite
a lot wider than it is long and although it's got a couple of fairly established trees and
bushes and a nice vine across this fence here, there's not a lot going on in it so if I
zoom out, I'll show you what I did, now the trick to really successfully designing any
garden that is wider than it is longer is to divide the space up and how I've done that
is just to bring the planting board around and down enough that it just pinches in the middle
here and that's just enough that it gives you sort of a visual divider and what dividing
space does is in some ways it almost gives you like sort of two different gardens so
from the deck area here, they've got there sort of circular lawn and then from the house
side, they've got to their oval lawn here so that division makes each area each side
of the garden, therefore, look longer and bigger and whereas if we just had a large
oval curved lawn across here and didn't have this divider here, it would just accentuate
the width of the garden and then this boundary line would come right away and make the garden
feel much smaller than it is. The other trick that I've used to make the area look bigger
is that you notice the decking board rather than run them from left to right, run them
from top to bottom because your eyes whenever you got strong lines like this bit paving
or decking, it makes the area looks longer because your eyes follow direction of the
lines so if we take them that way, we've accentuated the width whereas this accentuates
the length and then goes off in the circle here, the whole lot would make this area
look much, much bigger, so to give you an idea of what I mean about this lengthening
with the way we use the shape and the decking boards, I'm just going to see if I can do
something cunning with the camera. I'll just bob down to a lower level. You can sort of
get a feel for how that's shaped. You can see that your eyes is sort of find those deck
and then you can see how that curve really draws the eyes out to the end of the
garden there and then if we go over here to the other side, you can see how that little
oval does exactly the same. It makes that space look much, much longer, now also it's tying
design elements in that makes design work. You notice the path curves work with the curves
with the lawn so this brick path round to the gates and compost the area back here,
it all sort of works in nicely with the deck, the steps lining up with this path and we
got a focal point sculpture here at the end of these steps and that we got a set of doors
here so as soon as you walk out on those doors and look down the garden, there's something that
draws the eye and again that just accentuates the length and gives a better feeling of space
in the garden. You can see with a bench, I've painted it blue or suggested to have it
blue because the color scheme with this garden was red, blue and purple colors that's what
the clients favorite colors so that just by painting the bench blue, it's going to accentuate
all of the colors that we got around the garden when things are in fly, it's just going to
tie it all together and also this makes a really nice focal point at the end of the
garden and I don't know if you can see here, but I just put some timber uplights now I
suggested some driftwood would be nice, some sculpture to frame around the bench here and
that just adds a little bit of interest, but you know, if you haven't got driftwood, just
even some round posts concreted in a different heights so that you can see the plants behind
them and it just spilling through, just creates a bit more interest and gives a feeling that,
that area is enclosed. The other nice thing with this garden is the cooking area that
we got here and this a bench seed, now if I zoom out so you can see the perspective
sketch a bit better so as they're coming out the kitchen door we got the deck at the same
height now as the doors, windows here so you can see at the moment they have this big drop
down which makes the space not very easy to use so we put the deck in so that it comes
under this door here and this one and we carried it right the way along
that then sort of makes this
area more usable straight from the house and it's visually going to be a lot
more pleasing and then we have the pergola, the top here just underneath the roof line
of the house. Now in the pergola, I left us kind of skylight if you will and then the
majority of the pergola is over the areas where they're going to sit the most because
this garden is the other side of L.A. and it's sort of just foothills of some mountains so
it's going to be very hot and dry so it desert conditions there and with the baking California
sun, they're definitely going to need lots of shade so this pergola is quite open and
what I've suggested is that they have maybe roller blind or something or some matting,
rematting that they pull across when the sun is at its sort of most intense, but this
gap here, this skylight just would allow enough light into the bedroom double doors
here and also you got again more covering of the kitchen and the seating area and you
can see sort of up here, we got a rendered round wall for the seating and the kitchen
area and that will be painted the same colors as the house and also the deck would sit on
some rendered block work again painted the same color as the house for that, then it
helps tie in the deck area with the building with the house. It then sort of looks like
it fits that it's not just going to be this ugly add-on of loads of timber suddenly appeared,
having the same color window all the way around it would just marry the two and then the transitions
with the steps down to the lawn helps marry the house with the rest of the garden and then to really
add some color and vibrance to it, for the shade from here we got a deep scarlet, bougainvillea
which will cover actually most of this pergola, but at the front, I put in a door of variety
of wisteria, wisteria amethyst falls and that only gets it about ten, twelve feet high,
so that would just frame the view out of the deck area which will absolutely stunning and
So, we got back to our color sketch one last time, really, although this probably
looks like it's quite complex, with all these flowing curves going round and you break it
down to its most basic form. We got a circle and an oval and that is what has divided the
space just having two main simple shapes together with just a little bit of a pinching in both,
both the path pinches in a little bit and this planting border here. So it isn't actually
complicated as it probably first appears and the most important thing with design is how
you arrange the, the space. What tends to happen and go wrong in lots of gardens is
that people will add a deck, they'll add a path, they'll add a feature like a pond
or something without really thinking how everything works as a whole entity and that is the real
key with good design to make sure it works and functions as a whole. You know, when I
started design, I start with very, very simple shapes which you see demonstrated in future
episodes. I'll show you exactly how I will start to do a design and you know, I don't
start with the plants. I don't start with any features. I literally just started drawing
the patio and lawn area shapes in. Once you get those right, then the areas that are left
where you put the plants so as I say in the future episodes, I actually show you the design
process step by step and there'll be an opportunity for you to submit your garden for me to work
on and I'll give you more details about that in just a moment. So, that's the basic design
part covered, now if you really want to do something special with your garden, how you
light it can be really important, now I've come across what's trolling the internet
in absolutely stunning lights that I'm going to show you now and these are going to really,
really enhance the design that we've done. Okay, let's go into feature lighting. Now,
you bulk standard sort of lights are something like this where they got the casing over the
top and then you that helps you direct the light beams certain features so you can up
light beams, plants and you can also put them on the beams as down lighters. They got lots
of uses, but mostly these types stick into the ground and you up light the plants particularly
ones with spiky foliage. Now, with lighting, it's important not to ever skimp on lights
and buy the real cheapies. A decent light is going to set you back about seventy dollars
plus tax so it's about sort of forty, fifty pounds and the reason for that is the cheap
lights just don't last and also they don't have the quality of the lights with cheap
lights is often as not nasty, so to get really nice lighting, you do need to spend that amount
per light and it's better I think to have less lights than to have a load of cheap lights
because if you got the cabling in place, you can light the key features and then add the
more subtle forms of lighting as you go as budget allows, but when it comes to feature
lighting, now they do tend to be a lot, lot dearer, but they are the ones that really
add the wow factor. Now, the lights really had me drooling online are these gorgeous Italian
designer lights from Lumens and I'll post the link for these underneath in the show
notes. Now, these are absolutely gorgeous. I really love the simplicity of the shape
and soft lighting that they have. Now, these are feature lights, yes, there are a lot,
lot dearer, but because there are feature lights, you don't need many. That's the
beauty of them so one or two would just be perfect and I would pop them over the seating area
here, over the table because, you know, if you put that in the middle here, it's going
to be really annoying because you have to dodge past it every time you walk past it,
whereas you pop it over the table and chairs there, it hangs down like it would in a dining
room and that's going to be really, really effective from this area. Now, I think gorgeous
in pairs like I have here so you can either pop one on the side, then another one here
and then my second choice of these rather bizarre looking lights are kind of spaceship
has landed, I got some more pictures of those just here. These are beautiful, if you didn't
have the ability to hang anything from say you didn't have a pergola, just having a
few of these doctored around on the deck, sort of one here, maybe you could have the
set frames with them and then maybe another couple down here, then that just draws the
eyes through as you can see it, they've done on both of these images. Your eyes sort of
follow them and these very kind of designery shapes, really do add that wow factor to your
design and it's sort of the finishing touch. Now, there are expensive feature lights so
it means something like this would set you back about six hundred dollars and so it's
about four hundred pounds plus taxes and similar to the prices for these, but if they're not
in the budget, if you find something that you just absolutely love like this, you can
then see that this is kind of high end designer version, instead of matter of just shopping
around and seeing if you can find something that kind of more in budget, now what I love
is the shape of this, but if you just wanted a pendant light either you didn't have room
for something quite as long as this one or it just wasn't in budget, then they do have
sort of a slightly cheaper version. Its got the shape. Its got that pendant shape and if
you have one or two over the table and chairs here, you have a similar issue set with that
pendant light and it would still be a really gorgeous feature and, you know, it's yes,
it's not as nice as these ones, but you can still have that pendant effect and that's
important thing and the thing is the design doesn't need them. It works just fine without
them. There's sort of that added luxury that you can add at a later date if you want, you
know, the garden, the whole thing is not going to fall to bits if you do'ít really have
really fancy lighting and in fact if anything, you know, if you don't do the design first,
you just go out and buy the really expensive lights and think, that will give my garden the wow
factor, that actually won't. You'll be wasting your money. You've got to have the lights
working in conjunction with the design of some description so just buying lights isn't
going to do it, if not these ones, there following the lines of this fancy path here so you know,
they got a reason for being so it's better that you get the design shaped right that's
the really critical thing so I'm going to put a link to these lights in the show notes
now please note that I do receive a small commission if you purchase through my link
that helps cover the cost, the production costs of this show and I should also point
out this particular company I haven't actually purchased for myself so I have no experience
with them on that front, there just a website I go to all the time to draw that gorgeous
designer lights, now on to that question I have for you, now considering this is a show
all about garden design, there was something I barely touched upon when I went through
that design so I want you to tell me what was it and why didn't I focus particularly
on something that's normally considered so important in the garden and to enter all you
need to do is leave your answer in the comment section of the show notes page which can be
found in www.SuccessfulGardendesign/show1 and the winner would be drawn
at random and you will receive instant access to an online Design Garden workshop that I
held at the beginning of the year. Now, this normally retails just under forty dollars
and it takes you through the entire design process step by step and I give away a ton
of money by Garden Design Secrets so once you've seen this, you really will would have
a great idea of where to start with your garden and you know exactly what things to avoid
so do please share this episode with all your friends and leave me comments and let me know
what you like to see in future episodes and you can subscribe to the show either on iTunes
or on my YouTube channel, details are all in the show notes below. So, here's the question
one last time. What is it that I didn't really discuss a great deal when we ran through the
California Garden Design and why? Enter your answers at http://www.successfuldesign.com/show1
and enter your garden for me to work on during the show at the Successful Garden Design Facebook
page and I look forward to seeing your gardens and I look forward to working on one of them
in the next show, until next time.