Corstorphine Garden

Corstorphine Garden was a big empty square of gravel, with a rectangle of grass beside it. There were some nice plants in a border along each side of the garden but it lacked interest, colour and a secluded feel. Being in town and down a path from the client's building, they were able to see some of it from their rear windows but the view was partially blocked by huge Leylandii.

One of the biggest issues was that if the client came home from work, they had to go up 3 floors to get the shed keys, to get the chairs out the shed just to sit for 10 minutes in the sun.....which meant they didn't. So, integral seating was important to any design. Breaking up the big hollow space was the next concern and finally creating a wild-life friendly (specifically, bird friendly) planting design was top of the client's list.

To be honest, our garden was a mess and we didn't know where to start. But Sarah was recommended to us and she has helped transform our outdoor space into a place where we actually want to spend time. She designed the raised beds and helped select all the plants for the beds and the borders (the Eryngium big blues in the gallery are from our garden). She was particularly patient as we wanted plants that would be good for butterflies, bees and other insects; but that were preferably natives and easy to maintain. And that's exactly what she's helped us to create. Once Sarah had sourced all the plants and got them all in the ground, we seemed to have different plants in bloom at different times right through the year, so there's always something to look at. And we have a real mix of planting - different heights, colours, foliage ... It's a real pleasure to sit out there now on a nice evening. We still get Sarah back every so often (to make sure we keep the garden the way she left it and to stay on top of the necessary jobs) and we would happily recommend her to anyone looking to improve their garden.