What turns a garden into a GARDEN?
2020 has been a very challenging year for many of us in the UK and across the world. However, through being stuck at home we have rediscovered a love for our gardens. It has been our gardens that have provided locations for socially distanced catch up with friends, summer holiday destinations, places of escape from the stress of the world and many more.
Looking forward to 2021 the TGA think that the importance of our gardens will not fade. We ask Barry Randall from The Garden Design Company (Midlands) Ltd to give us some insights into why our gardens are so important.
CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF
I’m actually a very complex character… for a number of reasons.
I’d describe myself as a, “very driven learner who lives a fairly simple life with my wife Marie, two daughters Lorelle and Lexie and my grandson Chayse”
I’ve been in the landscaping industry for 28 years and about 8 years ago I set up a landscaping business with my brother doing small landscaping projects. That business, which is a domestic design and build company, has become a £3m a year operation with over 35 employees 5 x Marshall’s awards and 2 x BALI awards under our belt.
Over the past 18 months or so, I’ve branched out into business coaching, I’m a published author of two books, and generally a serial entrepreneur who teaches small business owners how to develop and grow their teams and business.
After eight years running my own landscaping business, I decided to help other business owners implement my systems while I personally coach and mentor them to achieve similar or better successes.
My wife once said, “when people get their businesses to run successfully without them being around to handle the day-to-day work, they get an hobby like golf or fishing… but not you, oh no, you going and get more businesses to run”
I’m either the owner of co-owner of five businesses which directly or indirectly support the landscaping industry or economy. I’m fiercely proud of the landscaping industry and have the utmost respect for anyone who is in this line of work.
I love helping people and I guess that’s my vice.
HOW DO YOU START DESIGINING ENVIABLE GARDENS?
I always start with simply understanding what the client wants when we have finished. My focus is on the outcome, not the how to. I take the philosophy a client won’t care how much I know till they know how much I care.
I keep things simple, try to capture the clients’ feelings and ambitions for the space, such as; creating memories with children as they grow up, a need to feel successful in their career, a place to relax and let the world go by.
HOW DO YOU DESIGN GARDENS THAT ARE EASY TO MAINTAIN?
First and foremost, I’d argue ‘easy’ is a relative term for maintenance.
If the client gets the dream they are searching for, they’ll never see maintenances as being hard. A bit like the middle-aged man who gets his dream sports car. There’s never much motivation needed to keep it clean.
But the practical answer to the question would be to again understand the clients’ thirst for maintenance and then design the garden to suit. Using the correct hard landscaping material and the correct planting.
Nothing beats combining a good knowledge of products, plants, a client’s gardening skills plus a splattering of the gardens own microclimate to come up with the perfect design for a client. Although, perfect is again and overused relative term.
I do feel strongly that the less educated people in our industry are falsely advertising low maintenance gardens as being no maintenance gardens. The overuse of hard landscaping in the projects I see in and around the “landscaping” Facebook groups are not the low maintenance design I think clients believe them to be.
Failing that we do fantastic maintenance packages for our clients, who all seem very happy to take us up on the offer.
HAVE YOU GOT ANY KEY GARDEN DESIGNS THAT YOU WOULD RECOMMEND TO UK GARDEN OWNERS?
I’ve only got a personal preference, but it’s just that, because the UK garden owners want what the UK garden owners want.
I like to see a contemporary design using natural products. I describe it as being a “rustic entertaining space”. The UK homeowners designing their gardens was once for the rich and famous, which is no longer the case.
I’m often shocked by how much someone with a modest size property and a modest household income will invest in getting the outdoor space to be a showstopper. Some of them you wouldn’t believe if I told you.
With the recent pandemic I think hot tubs, swimming pools, kitchen gardens and covered over entertaining spaces with TV’s have become ridiculously popular. All very exciting for us landscapers of course.
WHAT ONE THING WOULD YOU RECOMMEND A GARDENOWNDER TO DO TO REVAMP A GARDEN
Invest in a designer to produce you a garden design.
The return on investment is huge. Just getting it right from a design stage will save you a lot of money in the longer term, even if you intend to build the space yourself in phases.
IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU WOULD RECOMMEND OUR READERS TO AVOID WHEN WORKING ON THIER GARDEN?
Two things…
Firstly, don’t underestimate the groundwork element of landscaping your garden. It’s not unusual to take out 50 tonnes and bring in 50 tonnes to do a garden transformation.
While landscaping appears to be a DIY job there’s a lot of skill that is required to create a garden to stand the test of time. The great British weather is unforgiving so choose the products wisely.
Secondly, as in the previous question, speak to a garden. Designer. You wouldn’t set off to the seaside without knowing where you were going to stay, or any directions. Design is an investment not a cost.
