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Author Archives: Svend Rumbold
Chalk Downland isn’t Just Buttercups and Daisies.
Most days I take the dog for a walk over Fovant Down, and around this time of year the grassland bursts into a mass of wild flowers. It’s all too easy to look no further than the familiar buttercups and … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Wild flowers
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Spring Planting
It feels like spring is here, so it’s high time I got back to writing something about garden design, rather than assorted bees and beetles. This is a quite superb scene I snapped at Waterperry Gardens in Oxfordshire last year. … Continue reading
Posted in Garden Design, Landscape Design, Planting
Tagged Berberis thunbergii, Cynara cardunculus, Erysimum Bowles Mauve, Kerria japonica, spring border, Spring Planting, Tulipa Bleu Aimable, Waterperry Gardens
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More Spring Bugs in the Garden
OK, actually just outside our garden, but hey…! Its funny how you get to take familiar things for granted – it was only when I read about the Oil Beetle Hunt, being run by Buglife (The Invertabrate Conservation Trust) this … Continue reading
Posted in Garden Insects, Pesticides
Tagged Andrena cineraria, Bees, buglife, Meloe proscarabaeus, oil beetle, Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme
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“My Garden School” goes Live!
This may be the news you’ve been waiting for……. John Brookes MBE, who is widely considered to be one of the most influential garden designers of the 20th Century, is just one of the renown experts who have teamed up … Continue reading
Posted in Garden Design, Garden Maintenance, Landscape Design, Planting
Tagged Duncan Heather, John Brookes, Oxford College of Garden Design
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A Bee in my Bonnet
I have decided……. Spring is here! I was going to post something about planting for spring interest, but that will have to wait as my thoughts drifted to spring of last year, when I kept finding dead bumble bees on … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Garden Maintenance, Pesticides
Tagged Bayer, Bees, neonicotinoides, pesticides
3 Comments
Choosing a Landscape Architect or Garden Designer
I’m sometimes asked about the difference between a landscape architect and a garden or landscape designer, and how to choose one to design your garden. First, I want to say that there are lots of good landscape architects and lots … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Garden Design, Landscape Design
Tagged Landscape Institute, SGD, Society of Garden Designers
3 Comments
Hedge Trimming Time
Today we trimmed the Cupressocyparis leylandii hedge that runs along the front of our garden, so it seems timely to write a few notes about hedge trimming. A well maintained hedge is a smart looking boundary, and provides both privacy … Continue reading
Posted in Fruit, Garden Design, Garden Maintenance, Landscape Design
Tagged crataegus monogyna, hedges, pruning, prunus spinosa
1 Comment
Planting for Winter Interest
The recent early snow is perhaps a good cue to think about the garden’s appearance in winter. It is a common mistake to asume that, once the first frosts come, visual interest in the garden is over until next spring. … Continue reading
Soil Structure – and the importance of preserving it!
There are plenty of reasons why homebuilders and renovators should pay attention to garden design, even before they start building work, but one keeps nagging at me – preserving the soil structure during construction. We’ve all seen the quagmire that … Continue reading
Posted in Construction, Garden Design, Landscape Design, Soil, Soil type
Tagged construction traffic, homebuilding, soil compaction, subsoil, subsoiling, topsoil
2 Comments
Autumn Planting
I guess its about time I wrote something about gardening, so here goes. With autumn colours spreading through woodlands, and some trees and shrubs already loosing their leaves, you might be forgiven for thinking there’s not much interest left in … Continue reading
Posted in Garden Design, Landscape Design, Planting
Tagged aster, Autumn, Knoll Gardens, miscanthus, persicaria, rudbeckia, sedum
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