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Helen Birch Garden Design

Garden design, planting design, aftercare and garden writing.

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A Cornish Sculpture Garden

Posted on September 11, 2017 by Helen BirchSeptember 20, 2017

The highlight of a recent trip to West Cornwall was Tremenheere Garden, near Penzance. It announces itself as a sculpture garden as soon you arrive; a slate monolith from a former Chelsea garden by Darren Evans rises up (above)and on … Continue reading →

Tagged alpines, exotic planting, gunneras, palms, tree ferns

In love with dahlias

Posted on August 25, 2017 by Helen BirchAugust 25, 2017

It’s always a thrill to visit the national collection of a plant. These growers might be the trainspotters of the horticultural world, but for those of us who care about plants, they do important, painstaking work – preserving, propagating and … Continue reading →

Tagged colour, Cornwall, dahlias, national collection, shapes

Recycling at Hampton Court Flower Show

Posted on July 24, 2017 by Helen BirchAugust 24, 2017

Two noticeable trends at this year’s Hampton Court Flower Show: new twists on recycling and, wait for it, crazy paving. One of my favourite gardens, The Power to Make a Difference, by Joe Francis (above right, below right), is a … Continue reading →

Tagged crazy paving, Hampton Court Flower Show, ice sculpture

Roses, part 2. Versatile and low maintenance

Posted on July 5, 2017 by Helen BirchJuly 5, 2017

A lot of my clients want low-maintenance gardens and get worried if I suggest roses. Roses have a bad rep; greenfly, blackspot, mildew. But actually a bit of effort when planting (at the right depth, and throw in a handful … Continue reading →

Tagged ', 'Munstead Wood', cottagey, informal, Rosa rugosa, wildlife-friendly

Roses. Part 1. Deadheading

Posted on June 20, 2017 by Helen BirchJuly 3, 2017

This week I’ve been deadheading roses. Here in London, the first flush of flowers is coming to an end, and now’s the time to be decisive and take out the whole truss to an outward-facing leaf node. I quite often … Continue reading →

Dali’s garden in Cadaques

Posted on April 5, 2017 by Helen BirchJuly 5, 2017

Visiting Cadaques, Salvador Dali’s home in northern Cataluyna in springtime you can see straight away where he got his inspiration. First there are the crazy cloud formations, apparently strays from the trumontana winds that gust through here at this time … Continue reading →

Tagged Dali, elephant tree, pollarded, shade, terraces, trees, wild flowers

Great Dixter’s autumn plant fair

Posted on October 5, 2015 by Helen BirchOctober 15, 2015

To Great Dixter, the garden designed by Lutyens, revolutionised by the late, great writer and horticulturalist, Christopher Lloyd, and which is forging into the future under its present custodian and Lloyd disciple, Fergus Garrett. Four years ago, Garrett decided to … Continue reading →

Tagged cultivars, hydrangeas, nursery, plant fair, salvieas

Courtyard garden with roof terrace

Posted on April 8, 2015 by Helen BirchOctober 25, 2015

Work is continuing apace on an angular courtyard garden in Hackney, with a roof terrace. It’s been a complicated job, involving to-ing and fro-ing with a structural engineer, a rotten joist supporting the doors to the roof terrace, crumbling walls, … Continue reading →

Tagged acrylic panels, Courtyard, Hackney, Iroko, roof terrace

In praise of artificial lawns

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Helen BirchJune 27, 2015

The English love their lawns. Maroooned in a faraway fantasy that has more to do with the Brideshead Revisited and Downton Abbey than Belsize Park or Dagenham, they dream of swathes of manicured lawns sweeping between magnificent herbaceous borders off … Continue reading →

Tagged artificial lawn, Biodiversity, maintenance, Wildlife

A poppy meadow for World War One

Posted on November 12, 2013 by Helen BirchSeptember 7, 2014

I've been commissioned to create a poppy meadow in a school to commemorate the centenary of World War One next year. We’ve found a sunny site near the playground that’s currently turfed over, which is ideal, as the soil needs … Continue reading →

Tagged Bees, insects, Meadow, poppies, School, Wildlife

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Recent Posts

  • A Cornish Sculpture Garden September 11, 2017
  • In love with dahlias August 25, 2017
  • Recycling at Hampton Court Flower Show July 24, 2017
  • Roses, part 2. Versatile and low maintenance July 5, 2017
  • Roses. Part 1. Deadheading June 20, 2017
  • Dali’s garden in Cadaques April 5, 2017
  • Great Dixter’s autumn plant fair October 5, 2015

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Garden designer, journalist, blogger, allotment holder

A roof garden project in Bow. 5 months ago

Fabulous display of dahlias on an allotment in Suffolk. The allotment-holder grows them for show 5 months ago

A recent project in Islington 6 months ago

Autumn at Kew. Seed heads on the boardwalk, Miscanthus nepalensis, Quercus coccinea, Quercus rubra, and a lovely... fb.me/DF1Ngcwn 1 year ago

Just written a little blog on Tremeneere Garden in Cornwall. You can find it here... fb.me/6AkOlAf7w 1 year ago

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