Do you do room service?

Everyone likes a nice, comfy home and bugs are no different from the rest of us. Many are happy to set up home under a pile of leaves or logs. But why not go a step further and create your own bug version of Gleneagles in your very own back garden with a 5 Star Bug Hotel? 

A stunning bug hotel from the Chelsea Flower Show

Transformers - Gardens in Disguise! Part 1

We love pretty much all aspects of running our own gardening business. Even doing the admin is enjoyable as it can give us an excuse to hide indoors with a cuppa and a cat on our knee on a rainy day! But one of our favourite things about being both garden designers and landscapers is that we get to see the transformations through from beginning to end and we LOVE seeing the end result and how much the garden has changed from the sad space we first visited. So here is the first in our series of blogs on some of our favourite transformations...

The Benefits of Using a Garden Designer

Despite what the weather may be telling us, Spring officially starts this week which for many of us means that our thoughts move to our outdoor spaces. Gardens are an important additional space to our homes and with some clever garden design, can bring countless benefits…

Looking back, looking forward

2012 was an enormous year for Vialii Garden Design. On February 2nd the business was given an injection of youth and vitality when we welcomed aboard our newest ‘recruit’, our baby daughter Lulu Ann Burt. She’s certainly livened up the business side of things although it has got us wondering what we did with our time before Lulu came on the scene. There have been adjustments to the way we operate but, to be honest, these have been for the better. Prior to Baby Burt we would utilise a lot of spare time doing business stuff. Now we prioritise our family time but ensure that we work cleverly with what other time we have in order to keep the business thriving.

Design Process

At Vialii Garden Design, we understand what a daunting prospect it can be embarking on getting your garden designed and landscaped. We will endeavour to make you comfortable through every stage of the process and keep you well informed of what is happening and what to expect. We will discuss the process in greater detail at the initial meeting but here is our ten step guide to having your garden transformed...

1. Contact us to arrange the initial, FREE, no obligation meeting at a time that suits you, including evenings and weekends. It is most helpful if you can give some thought to your garden before we come. Talk to everyone in your household and ask what they want and will be using the garden for. Consider how much time you want to give to the maintenance of your garden, What do you like or dislike, what styles do you like. Collate images from magazine or the internet and look at the Styles section of our website for ideas of the types of things you like. Don't worry if you really don't know as we will have lots of ideas to discuss with you.
2. At the initial meeting we will discuss your requirements and what you want to use the garden for. We will also assess the site (test the soil, look at the aspect, drainage etc.) and take measurements as well as present our portfolio of designs. We will also discuss your budget as well as talk you through the process in more detail and discuss timescales.  3. Following on from the initial meeting, we will send you a quotation for doing your design. 4. You sign our "Design" Appointment Agreement form and we proceed with your design.
5. There will be a second meeting to present our initial ideas and rough sketches. Once we get feedback from you we can then carry on with the full design. 6. The full design, drawn to scale, is completed along with a mood board showing our inspiration as well as a feel for both the soft and hard landscaping to be used in the design. Costs for the works to be completed by Vialii Garden Design are included. 7. You finalise payment for the design and ask Vialii Garden Design to build your design and sign the "Build" Appointment Agreement (should that be your requirement).
8. Vialii Garden Design build the design, ensuring the concept is fully carried out through the build, bringing your design to life. Some payment is required up front to cover materials with the balance due on completion.
9. A care sheet for all your new plants is provided to make it easy for you to identify everything and care for your new garden properly.  10. You finalise payment for the build and ask our sister company,Vialii Garden Services, to maintain your garden ensuring it remains beautiful and true to the design (should that be your requirement). As you can see, we can offer you the full service from start to finish, leaving you to simply relax and enjoy your stunning newly designed garden. You can choose whatever elements suit your lifestyle and budget best.

Castle Kennedy garden visit

The ruins of Castle Kennedy

We spent a lovely, earlier this week, in the gardens of Castle Kennedy just outside Stranraer. The weather in Scotland hasn't been of the highest quality of late but thankfully we lucked out.

Cotinus catching the autumn sun...

The garden is impressive although as is commonly the case we found ourselves there at the wrong time of the year. There are magnificent rhododendrons to behold but in September they are nothing but large green masses. To see this garden in late spring would be wonderful. 

One of our favourite spots was the large circular pond, positively packed to the gunnels with water lilies. It was captivating. Every now and then the lilies would offer up a silent ripple of applause when a breeze passed and you find yourself staring for ages in the hope of seeing a frog hopping off a leaf back into the water or a dragonfly hovering. Loved it. 

Masses of water lilies...

The walled garden...

The walled garden was lovely, if a bit untidy. We're perhaps being a tad unfair here as we're to understand that all 75 acres of this estate is maintained by just two gardeners?! It shows unfortunately. There are signs all around of how things could be in better shape. The rhododendrons are both massive in size and in numbers and are in the process of swamping out everything else. The monkey puzzle trees are being crowded by there indigenous neighbours and some bold choices have to be made to return this garden to it's former intended glory. Even the plant sale area is in dire need of some care and attention with plants for sale either passed their best or just leggy and unkempt. Really not appealing to potential plant purchasers. 

You can't help feeling that, with this garden, if all the small details were addressed then it would potentially attract increased visitors numbers which would generate more sales which in turn could be invested back into the gardens. They might be able to stretch to a third gardener too... 

It's All In A Name

We are regularly asked how we came up with the name Vialii Garden Design. Some people think it's our surname (we were tempted to change our names by deed poll as it sounds a lot more glamorous than Burt!) but the real reason is simple - it's the name of one of our favourite flowers. 

How to build a fence...

How cool is this fence?...Thanks to The Other Side of The Shelf for the image...

A friend contacted me this evening for my advice. He needed to know what depth he needed to dig for his new fence posts. I told him the standard depths of 600mm for 1.8m high and 300mm for 0.9m high fences.

That got me thinking that it would be useful to include a guide to building a fence on the blog. I've found this blog post which seems to cover most of what you should need to know.

You might also find this page of use as it gives you a guide to the different styles of fence you could consider. It also shows some quirkier, unique fences that can be quite striking in some gardens.

Anyway, I hope these are of some use. I'm off to think how to construct a pencil fence like the image above...

Happy fencing...

The Green Roof Project...

From the outset we knew we needed a shed in our garden. Our garage is already burgeoning so some further storage was desperately required. We also knew that the shed would have to have a green roof. We don’t have a large garden but we try and make as best use of every available inch so by including a green living roof we could accomodate even more flowers in our modest plot.

Problem Corner No. 1

I regard that a lot about garden design is about solving problems. The problems can be very subtle, like determining the best planting solution for a particular patch of the garden, or the problems can be pretty bloomin' in-yer-face.
This post summarises a recent small 'problem' that we had been asked to rectify. The problems wasn't particularly subtle but I hope that the solution was effective...

Project 1
The problem
A bank of leylandii had been removed from an already small, sloping courtyard garden leaving an unsightly strip of sloping loose ground which was peppered with old bricks and blocks and hindered by the ample root network and stumps of the leylandii. The area was hard enough to get around on nevermind establish any useful or maintainable border.

Before

The solution

We constructed a new timber terrace using chunky treated softwood to create level areas which are much more accessible. The terraces are secured by the insertion of timber posts strategically sunk and concreted amongst the burgeoning web of tree roots. Excavation was difficult but worthwhile in order to get enough support posts in at the required depth. The finished article will be softened by planting.

If you have a problem area that you have no idea what to do with we'd love to hear from you.

Regards

Michael

www.vialiigardendesign.co.uk 

Provost Park Set To Blossom

The Bridge of Allan Community Council have unanimously approved Vialii’s design for Provost Park in the heart of the village. After over a year of discussions and meetings the plans are now ready for Stirling Council and the daunting task of fund raising. But how did we get involved and get to where we are today with the project?…

The new design for Provost Park

How we got to where we are - Pt 2

In February 2011 I wrote a blog post detailing how Vialii Garden Design came into being. The post was getting a bit lengthy so I opted to round the post off and promised to follow up with Part 2. A mere 10 months later Part 2 is finally here. Apologies for the delay.

In a similar vein to the beginning of an episode of that of the compelling, if confusing, TV series ‘Lost’ we shall start by saying in a deep and gravelly voice "Previously on Vialii Garden Design". Then we run through an abridge version of what went before.

I was once an engineer, then I wasn't anymore. I took some time off. I considered differing career paths. Farrier, chef, gardener. I started a garden maintenance business. The business grew. I often wrongly turned down landscaping work. I went to Stirling Castle. I met Jill.

There, I think that's about where I got to last time, isn't it?