Suddenly it’s Spring and everyone’s venturing out to see the delights of bulbs surfacing and buds unfurling. It feels like our beautiful Magnolia is bursting with flowers this year. It’s time in the Simon Scott Landscaping office to plan which local open gardens we are going to visit this year and to book tickets to the RHS flower Shows. Inspirational events and lovely days out are our favourite kind of planning.

Below are some of our visual highlights from recent RHS shows we’ve been to. We also list ways to find out about some fantastic local open gardens to get to if you can. You can often visit these local gardens for a small contribution and there is always large portions of homemade cake and copious amounts of real lemonade. So really the very best kind of day. The Chelsea Fringe is also on our radar this year and we can’t wait to go to something a bit different at their events. So get your diaries at the ready and start planning your very own inspirational garden year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tom Stuart-Smith’s Weston Garden in Chelsea 2018 was such a highlight for us last year we continually re-visit the pictures we took. The garden was full of lush foliage plants with contrasting textures and all sorts of shades of green. The hardscape materials used in this garden complimented the planting beautifully.

RHS Flower Shows:

Many RHS shows happen all over the UK and throughout the year. If we can, we try to go to RHS Chelsea (May 21-25 2019), RHS Hampton Court (2-7 July 2019) and RHS Chatsworth (5-9 June 2019).  These events are such a great opportunity to see stunning garden design come to life, beautiful planting and excellent landscaping at its best. It’s always difficult to capture the real essence of the gardens through the crowds but here is a  selection of our pictures of some of the stand-out gardens we fell in love over recent years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were so many other beautiful gardens that would have made this visual list but these are the ones we managed to capture. Designers are listed in order of row below:

Sarah Price, The M&G Garden. Sarah Price. The M&G Garden. Sam Ovens, The Wedgewood Garden. Matt Keightley, The Feel Good Garden. Tony Woods, Urban Flow. Naomi Ferrett-Cohen, Life without walls. John Everiss and Francesca Murrell, Myeloma UK Garden. Butter Wakefield, Belmond Enchanted Gardens. Jo Thompson, Brewin Dolphin Garden. McWilliam Studios, Breaking Ground. Charlotte Harris, Royal Bank of Canada Garden. Matt Keightley, The Jeremy Vine texture garden.

Open Gardens:

RHS flower shows place a spotlight on the talents of excellent garden designers and skilled landscapers, it’s the place to see the best of the best. However, there is something wonderful about having the opportunity to see a private garden that invites the public in. Below are some of our pictures of Southease Open gardens which happens every year near Lewes, where we are based. It was wonderful to see the eclectic mix of gardens big and small that had been tended to for years by their owners.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although we find show gardens hugely inspiring we often have to peek at them through the crowds.  Visiting open gardens is a very different experience, you can walk in the garden, pause and take time to breathe in the scent of it’s flowers. The gardens are often labours of love and have been developed over a number of years. You have the opportunity to ask questions of the owners who give expert tips and advice. They feel like working gardens and have the character of the owners embossed in them. Sometimes they have had garden design input but often they are the results of really hard work, mistakes rectified and dreams realised. They are real and often beautiful gardens with proud and knowledgeable owners. Also great places to get seedlings and more sturdy plants that sell for practically nothing.

I was so delighted to discover the National Open Garden Scheme’s mobile app, which makes it really easy to find any private gardens opening for Charity near you. You simply input your postcode or town and it gives you the details of whats happening where and when. You can download it here.

I have also discovered the National UK Directory of Open Gardens. You can search by each region and it lets you know the month in which local open gardens are happening in towns and villages in your area (specific dates are uploaded once they are confirmed). There are so many great Sussex open garden events  listed, so make sure you get those dates in the diary.

 

 

 

 

One of our favourite gardens opens at The Garden Show in Spring at Firle Place which is happening this year on Easter weekend 19-21 April. It is the walled Herb Garden at Firle. See my blog about this lovely place here. The show is a great family event and a must for anyone interested in gardens and gardening.

Chelsea Fringe:

We are really determined this year to check out some of the Chelsea Fringe events happening from 18th – 26th May 2019. Now in it’s eighth year it is totally independent of the RHS Chelsea flower show and anything goes at the fringe. It will feature a mix of ‘public spectacles, horticultural happenings and community celebrations’. We look forward to more details when they are announced. Check out the Chelsea Fringe website to get updates of events happening in your area.

If there is a garden or design focused inspirational event and lovely day out  that you’d like us to feature in future blogs do get in touch and let us know.

We wish you a great inspirational garden year ahead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simon Scott Landscaping in House and Garden

We are so excited that Simon Scott Landscaping have been included in the ‘Back to Black’ feature in November’s issue of House and Garden.

Credit and huge thanks for allowing us to show these pages goes to the lovely David Nicholls, Deputy Editor of House and Garden who wrote the feature and the lovely Photographer Will Pryce, whose beautiful photographs are featured.

The feature focuses on the super talented Hamish, Yvonne, Keir and Liam Black and their converted nineteenth-century Sussex family barn. The barn is now a modern live-work space which, as well as being home to Hamish and Yvonne, is also home to art studios, meeting rooms and a huge gallery. It’s a space which the whole family can use to pursue their own creative businesses and it is very beautiful. It is a place that invites creativity and experimentation. It is our kind of place.

Many moons ago, we were lucky enough to see this extraordinary building in development and it was great to have the chance to visit once again for lunch with the family during the House and Garden shoot. The finished house works so beautifully with its open spaces and glorious light streaming through the epic roof, wide windows and glass doors. Keir Black, is the founder and principal architect of Field Architecture and was, of course, the architect for this project. We were so delighted to find out that it received recognition from the Sussex Heritage Trust for its residential design and that it Field Architecture had won the award for Retrofit House (under £500,000) at last year’s Architect’s Journal Retrofit Awards.

The blurring of indoors and outdoors in this space is achieved so perfectly with large bi-fold doors that open up a huge section of the side of the house and gallery space onto the central courtyard space. Spaces also connect beautifully with the doors on the other side of the building pulling you through the space which then open out onto a smaller beautifully formed garden courtyard. The windows to the kitchen have also been designed so that the corner ‘disappears’ as you open it, really utilising the aspect of the house. This is a real ‘outdoor’ kitchen where gathering of food, family and their conversations can happen both inside and out.

The garden to this beautiful place is an inspiration, created and developed organically and over time by Hamish and Yvonne, it has stunning views and as well as being home to a beautiful orchard and kitchen garden, it is also host to some of Hamish’s sculptures. We love the first page of the article where the family is pictured surrounding (and in!) Hamish’s sculptor ‘Shout’. Anyone local to Brighton will also know Hamish’s sculpture ‘Afloat’ which has become such an iconic Brighton landmark positioned on the seafront.

Inside the house, the gallery displays more of Hamish’s work and also Yvonne’s bold beautiful torn paper and metal constructed reliefs which work so well displayed on the walls of this light, bright and minimal space.

Keir also designed the relocatable outdoor building in the grounds now used as a recording studio by Liam who is a music producer. This happens to one of the best designed ‘outdoor rooms’ we know, clad with black recycled sheet material with big plate glass windows, it is another space that invites the outdoor in with ingenious simplicity and extraordinary results. One day there will be a whole blog just about this ‘outdoor room’. It’s one of our favourite places.

In the article Sophie is featured with Keir on the site of a local project we are working on together, we love working with such a talented architect who considers the surrounding landscape to be such a vital part of his design process.

It was also lovely to see included in the same feature our friend, the very talented blacksmith and designer James Price pictured at his forge with Hamish. James has a wide portfolio of work and often works with Garden Designers as well as private clients to create beautiful bespoke original metalwork ranging from gates, railings, pergolas and benches. A particular favourite of ours is the bespoke wheat and scythes architectural railings James created for a client who had asked for a design with an agricultural influence. The perfect boundary line for a Sussex down lands garden.

We were also so delighted to see the stunning fire bowl James created for Andy Sturgeon’s Daily Telegraph show garden at the RHS Chelsea flower show a couple of years ago.

It was a real privilege to be part of this House and Garden feature and to be mentioned in the same context as other creative people connected to the Black family.

Anna Garner, is founder of the artesian website The Garnered, which is an online retail space that works closely with designers across the globe. It was lovely to discover that our Lewes based friend and amazing jeweller Abby Mosseri is the first face you see under the designers section of the website. Do take some time to check out all the designers and artisan’s featured on The Garnered, we spent hours looking at all the truly beautiful products, such a lovely collection.

Also featured were John Booth, chair of trustees of Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, Tim Ashley, photographer and writer, Ann Elliot, Writer and curator of Gallery57 and Suzi Hopkins Co-founder of site specific theatre, The Company. Definitely worth checking out the gallery’s websites for information about their upcoming exhibitions as well as reading about the fascinating work of The Company.

November’s issue of House and Garden is full of inspirational features on beautiful gardens and horticulture. Heale House and Garden in Wiltshire is shown in all its glory including a picture of the most lovely apple and pear tunnel that bisects the kitchen garden. Also featured is ‘Part 2’ of Clare Foster’s The Tree series ‘Branch lines’ which is an exploration of different methods of training fruit trees and a also include a gorgeous series of black and white images of espalier, fan and cordon trees. ‘Part 1’ of the Tree Series is available online and about ‘How to choose trees for you garden’.

We are already looking forward to the December issue of House and Garden which is out now!

For further information about the work of Hamish, Yvonne, Keir and Liam Black, please follow the links below.

See Kier’s work at Field Architecture here.

See Hamish’s work here.

See Yvonne’s work here.

See Kier’s work at Field Architecture here.

See Liam’s work here.

And to see the beautiful photographs of Will Pryce visit here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Garden Show at Firle Place

We highly recommend a visit in April to The Garden Show at Firle Place. We especially recommend seeing the Firle Place Herb Garden. This year  the show happening from Friday 20^th to Sunday 22^nd April. We’ve been visiting this show ever since we based our landscaping company in lovely Lewes. The show is a great opportunity to meet up with horticultural experts, support local plant growers and get inspiration about your garden, garden design and garden landscaping too.

With a good dosing of fine tea, local arts and crafts and lashings of cake – what’s not to like. If you have little ones, there is also lots of fun to be had with relaxed and often times past themed play and entertainment areas. There will be garden doctors available to solve any plant problems you have. From identifying pests and diseases to advising you about right plant, right place for your garden.  On Saturday and Sunday there will also be the ‘Fantastical Pirate Treasure & Easter Egg Hunt’ for litte ones based in the Firle church yard at 2pm -Easter eggs after Easter – what could be better! Visit The Firle Place website more information and links to get tickets.

Top Tip: The Firle Place Herb Garden

 

 

 

 

 

Looking for garden design inspiration? My top tip is to make sure you visit The Firle Place Herb Garden while you are at the show. The herb garden is located within the stunning 18th century walled garden. I was told that it is compartmentalised by the different areas of the body that certain herbs are used to treat. An interesting way to approach garden design.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This area of plant medicine is one I am really interested in so this ticks many boxes for me. See my power of plants blog which focuses on this further to find out more. The garden in its current form is now in its third year of growth and we are really looking forward to seeing how the herb garden has matured and what changes and additions have been made. My biggest delight last year was discovering what Pulsatilla vulgaris (pasque flower) looked like and falling head over heals in love with it.  The foliage is silky and divided and is topped with purple flowers with yellow centres. These turn into strikingly delicate seed heads. What I love about this plant is its combination of seed heads and blooming flowers on the upright stems of the same plant. These plants are also tolerant of drought once established so a winner in my eyes. So great to discover these lovely plants, in bloom and thriving in Firle.  Pulsatilla has always had an association with Easter and I have read somewhere that it is supposed to flower on Good Friday. Be interesting to see how our dis-arming weather of late will effect its blooming date!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still in development, some areas of the garden are quite sparse, in need of weeding, or waiting for perennials to wake fully, the tips of their growth only just evident. The scattering of tulips throughout the space with the bold foliage of Cynara cardunculus (Cardoon) really gives a cohesion to the garden. April is the perfect time to see these tulips at their best, I can’t wait to see any new additions. There is something refreshing about  going to a Garden Show where the garden you see is a real working garden, taking it’s time to develop and establish. The Firle Gardeners were on hand last year to answer any questions. I always get the best tips from the gardeners in a place like this. I find gardeners of this type of gradual project always really willing to share their immense horticultural and practical knowledge. The main hard landscaping feature of this garden is the exquisite boundary wall. It is clear that in places it is feeling the effect of its age and quite literally showing its cracks. However, it has such a beautiful tone of brick and is the perfect frame for the plants. There are also some lovely simple and old fashioned garden landscaping elements, which are a perfect light touch, bricks and stepping stones work perfectly with the mown pathways.  They give structure to the herb planting beds which are the essence of this beautiful place. There are a number of stalls selling unusual and rare plants, so a good opportunity to be inspired and create your own herb garden.

The Pleasure Grounds at Firle

Five years ago we were also lucky enough to get the unique opportunity to go on a tour of the restoration project of the pleasure grounds at Firle, led by Philip Fenech, head gardener. See my musings on the Firle garden pleasure grounds tour  here and do look out for any further tours planned, they are really worth it.  The beautiful turf steps are a real favourite.

My next garden visit and one to tick off my ever increasing list of must sees will be the Chelsea Physic Garden, London’s oldest botanic garden. This incredible place holds around 5,000 different edible, useful and medicinal plants that have changed the world. Someone whispered that the Easter Bunny might even be visiting this garden during Easter weekend. A great time to go as the garden will be bursting into bloom.  Check out details Chelsea Physic Garden

Have Fun!

Sophie

 

 

 

 

 

Why not treat yourself this Christmas and invest in your garden.

Announcing FREE Garden Design Clinics at Lewes Women in Business Pop Up Christmas Emporium on: Sat 9^th December 10.30am-5pm at Lewes House, 32 High Street, Lewes

Simon Scott Landscaping and Bo Cook Landscape & Garden Design are delighted to be offering joint Garden Design Clinics at the LWB Pop Up Christmas Emporium happening on Sat 9^th Dec at Lewes House.

Your garden is an extension to your home and your windows are your largest picture frame in your house. Transforming your garden will transform your home. It will enhance the way you use your space, encouraging you to spend more time within it. It will also create a beautiful canvas to be admired from the inside.

Find out how you can invest in your garden to enrich and extend yours and your family’s living space. To discuss your gardens potential and find out how even small changes can make a big difference, come and have an informal chat with the experts.

What do you need to do?

• Book a 15 minute garden design clinic with Bo Cook at bocook.co.uk/contact-bo-cook/
• Bring any photos, plans and ideas you already have
• Bring a rough sketch of your existing garden layout if you can!

Book in your slot to get some focused advise about your garden’s potential, learn more about the garden design and build process, and how it can add real value to your life and to your home.

 

 

 

 

If you forget to book a slot, please do feel free to come by anyway to have a chat.

LWB Christmas Emporium – Perfect for presents:

Lewes Women in Business (LWB) is a not for profit Community Interest Company bringing together Independent business women from all over Lewes District. The Christmas Emporium is on Sat 9th Dec, 10.30am-5pm at Lewes House, 32 High Street, Lewes. FREE ENTRY featuring a wide selection of handmade gifts and bespoke services, perfect for presents.

FREE Garden Design Clinics

 

 

 

 

We are very excited to have been invited to take part in the South of England Show this week, happening on 8th, 9th and 10th June in Ardingly. We will be collaborating with some of the garden designers we work with, Heather Martin Garden Design and Alitura Landscape and Garden Design to provide FREE Garden Design Clinics, which will be taking place in the Horticultural marquee. A great opportunity to get some initial design ideas and think about possibilities for your garden.The show is bursting with activities and full of horticultural inspiration.

Bring along your garden photographs, plans and ideas and ask the team of professional garden designers for their advice. Fifteen minute consultations may be booked in advance and by email to office@heathermartin.co.uk with your preferred date and time and you will be contacted with confirmation of your time slot. On the day consultations will also be available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.

Pre-book your tickets to the South of England Show here. 

Installation Artist specialising in flora

Rebecca Louise Law is an Installation Artist based in East London, specialising in artworks made with natural materials, in particular flora. Beauty in Decay is something that I have always been fascinated with and Law’s ‘The City Garden’ installation at The City Centre in London was one of my highlights of last year. It was a beautiful piece of work, both delicate and powerful at the same time. Multi layered for me in relation to meaning with hints of past glory, perfection, sensory overload, fragility, beauty in decay and ‘death’. The smell of the decaying flowers and plants invaded the space and built as the time you spent there increased.  The exhibition was perfectly coupled with a map which gave you access to many of the extraordinary public gardens and green spaces within the city.

 

 

 

 

The species Law used within the installation reflected the plants and flowers that can be seen within these spaces. When your eyes are tuned in, you realise how crucial these green pockets are to their concrete partners. They punctuate the landscape, providing crucial places to pause and breathe, the antidote to the pressure of city living.

New exhibition at Now Gallery – feed your imagination!

The city garden has just finished, but Law has a new exhibition at Now Gallery  in Greenwich, London from 3 March – 7 May 2017. Do check it out if you can. Some stunning pictures and more information about her work can be found on her website. Inspirational and beautiful – go on feed your imagination!

Sophs 2017