Planting
Designed for year five.
Gardens are sold on installation day and judged every day after. We plant for how the section will look once root systems, canopies and shade patterns mature — which is also when maintenance drops to almost nothing.
The palette
Six natives we build around.
Method
Right plant, right place, no nostalgia.
Wet feet? Carex and louisiana iris in the swale, not lavender. Clay pan? Kōwhai and mānuka that laugh at it. Frost hollow? Nothing subtropical survives Cambridge in June — we plan for the coldest night, not the brochure.
Exotics earn their place for structure, perfume or long seasons — but the backbone is always native, because the backbone has to survive on rainfall and neglect once we've left.
Maintenance honesty: every plan ships with a seasonal care sheet, and the first two maintenance visits are included — establishment is where gardens are won or lost.