Posted in Year: 2013

Recent posts

More colour in June

Also mid-summer, self-sown red valerian (Centranthus ruber), Geranium Brookside, yellow Phlomis fruticosa

More orange…

Mid-summer, Eremurus Cleopatra and Geum Princess Juliana in a new bed

The colour orange in spring

At this time of year when the predominant colours are yellow (daffodils and primroses) and blue (forget-me-nots), more and more, I like orange tulips.  They go so well with the dry colours of late winter - sage, phlomis, cistus - and the new growth of spring.

A folly on the Isle of Wight

This was a nice surprise, five years after I had produced a sketch design for a cupola to embellish a folly on the Isle of Wight - and had forgotten all about it - I was sent some photos of it.  Here's the sketch which I believe hangs in the folly and a photo of thing...

Oak garden seat with a view

Mark Lutyens garden seat under a plane tree in Somerset.  Deigned by ML and made by master craftsman Rob Hibberd. (St Patrick's Day 2021)

Hillsborough Castle

Mark sitting on his tree seat in a cloud of blue cornflowers, in the new walled garden at Hillsborough Castle, July 2019

Hillsborough Castle

The Dovecote or Shell House in the Walled Garden at Hillsborough Castle: Designed by Mark Lutyens & Catherine FitzGerald; made by craftsmen from The Prince's Trust, 2019

Categories

A vertical summer garden

A vertical summer garden

On this grey November day, I comfort myself with this photo of the banked planting in the courtyard outside my office shot in late June. Achillea (A. Moonshine and Red Velvet), Eryngium Sapphire Blue, Lilium regale, Euphorbia characias, Linaria, alchemilla planted as...

vines in Kensington

vines in Kensington

This is a contemporary pergola, an awning almost, in a south-facing garden in Kensington, London. It is made from stainless steel and heavy duty bamboo canes. Designed by Mark Lutyens; made by Mark Bazeley. It was installed about 5 years ago and is now - August -...

Millstone fountain

Millstone fountain

This is a small fountain we made 5 years ago - a millstone mounted in a stainless steel tank (made by Mark Bazeley, the Nottingham master fabricator) - which is the centre piece of a small geometric box (Buxus) parterre with blue iris in-fill planting. When first...

Isle of Wight Garden

Isle of Wight Garden

High summer and a heatwave on the Isle of Wight has brought this new garden to life. The gravel garden plantings - Gaura, valerian, Verbena bonariensis, Eryngium, thymes, Stipa tenuissima etc - have exploded. See the earlier blog for a view of this garden 6 months ago

A Spring lawn with bulbs

A Spring lawn with bulbs

A wildflower lawn with Spring bulbs in late May. Tulip Queen of the Night, Tulip Shirley, blue Camassia, daffodil Thalia; crabapple trees Malus Golden Hornet in background, and behind them pleached lime trees

Chelsea Fringe

Chelsea Fringe

  Here at Great Western Studios we have rearranged and planted our little courtyard garden as part of Chelsea Fringe. Using basic materials - cattle troughs, 8ft canes, water and lead work - we have created a vertical garden - or Jenga garden because it reminds...

Garden in St John’s Wood

Garden in St John’s Wood

Last year, there was a tired old garden here, and a tree. Now there's a huge hole - but the tree remains. Next year - although hard to believe - once the builders have gone and the hole has been filled in, there will be a brand new garden with trees, hedges, tumbling...

Tree planting in Hampshire

Tree planting in Hampshire

Late Winter tree planting in Hampshire. One of the advantages of this cold, dry weather is that it has been easy to move around on site, to drive across lawns without damaging them, to plant without getting covered in mud; a job done easily is a job done well.