If you feel like a giant in your garden or your outdoor areas feel overwhelming or insignificant, you’re probably experiencing a problem with proportion. In this episode we chat about practical ways to identify and achieve proportion. We discuss how to take cues from your garden’s broader context and the effect of scale, shapes, colour and foliage on achieving proportion. This episode is the third in a series on garden design principles aimed at helping you assess your garden and create a beautiful space that works for you.

Photos for this episode⁠ are on Instagram at ⁠OnGardenDesign⁠

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Personal values shape the choices we make and the lifestyle we live. So why shouldn’t values play a key role in creating a garden that reflects your principles, priorities and personality? Join our conversation with Lachlan Richardson, a values-based garden designer, as we explore how an appreciation for awe, inclusivity and a social conscience can deliver affordable and sustainable garden design. On his journey of self-reflection and intentional design practices, Lachlan’s approach encourages others to design gardens that contribute to a future that is worth being excited about.

Photos for this episode⁠ are on Instagram at ⁠OnGardenDesign⁠

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(00:00) Intro (07:34) Design values (13:25) Placeholder guide (19:23) Cost-creativity tension (25:28) Mistakes (31:12) Top tips

Is there something overpowering or dominating in your garden? It’s probably upsetting your garden’s balance and compromising its harmony, comfort and stability. In this episode we chat about practical ways to achieve balance in your garden. We discuss how to achieve weighting without symmetry, applying mass and void and how to incorporate a pleasing composition of flow, shapes, texture and colour. This episode is the second in a series on garden design principles aimed at helping you assess your garden and create a beautiful space that works for you.

Photos for this episode⁠ are on Instagram at ⁠OnGardenDesign⁠

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(00:00) Intro (06:06) Indicators (08:46) Weighting (10:07) Symmetry & asymmetry (15:58) Mass & void (21:56) Balance fails (25:43) Plants (28:21) Colour & texture

We intuitively know that gardens have a positive impact on mental health. When this is backed by science, it becomes even more compelling. Join us in this gentle chat with Sue Stuart-Smith, psychiatrist, psychotherapist and author of The Well Gardened Mind as she takes us on a journey to better understand why and how gardens can be healing and restorative for mental health conditions. Peppered with practical examples, Sue shares her research and observation of therapeutic design techniques and explains why people feel held, safe and hopeful in a garden.

Photos for this episode⁠ are on Instagram at ⁠OnGardenDesign⁠

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Why is it that some gardens just feel right? And others feel chaotic, disjointed and jarring? It’s probably all about unity. In this episode we chat about practical ways to achieve unity in your garden. We discuss how repetition brings coherence, how taking the lead from a style, theme or genre provides a unifying language and why sense of place is an important consideration. This podcast is the first of a series on garden design principles aimed at helping you assess your garden and create a beautiful space that works for you.

Photos for this episode⁠ are on Instagram at ⁠OnGardenDesign⁠

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(00:00) Intro (03:24) Definition (10:33) Repetition (17:49) Plants (21:45) Architecture (23:39) Style

Would you like to rewild your garden AND design it to look good? Join us chatting with Charlie Harpur about bringing back natural process to the landscape. As Head Gardener at Knepp in southern England, Charlie shares his knowledge and experience in restoring biodiversity through a mosaic of habitats. As the keystone species in your garden, apply these practical tips and techniques to nurture your plot. Not only will you achieve an ecologically rich garden but also one with fabulous aesthetic value.

Photos for this episode are on Instagram at OnGardenDesign.

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(00:00) Intro (04:33) Definition (06:22) Sculpting the land (11:17) Plant management (15:19) Creating mosaics (18:37) Biodiversity (26:08) Aesthetic value (28:52) Soil

Dividing your garden into a series of smaller spaces is a landscape design method to make an outdoor area feel larger, more inviting and purposeful. In this episode we chat about how to design outdoor rooms. We’ll give you guidelines on ideal room proportions and what makes up the floors, walls and ceilings. We also consider how to create effective transitions and flow between the rooms. And can dividing a garden into rooms be done badly? Sure can! This podcast will help you assess your garden and apply these theoretical and practical tips for designing fabulous outdoor rooms in your own garden.

Photos for this episode are on Instagram at OnGardenDesign.

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(00:00) Intro (02:15) Room dimensions (08:22) Law of significant enclosure (10:44) Floors (14:17) Walls (18:52) Entry & exits (21:40) Ceilings (25:46) Flow (30:59) Summary

70% of households have a pet and these little companions probably spend most of their life in the garden. So it’s only fair that any good garden design considers the pets’ behaviours, needs, safety and comfort. In this episode we chat about what to include, avoid and consider when designing a pet friendly garden. But one pet ain’t like the next, so how do you balance your pet’s personality with your gardening tolerance and style? We’ll talk through plenty of tips, tricks and inspiration to give you the confidence to have that lovely garden AND that cheeky companion.

Photos for this episode are on Instagram at OnGardenDesign.

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(00:00) Intro (02:18) Pets and behaviours (05:09) Design considerations (12:28) Pet safety (17:23) Hardscaping Meterials (18:58) Lawn (23:17) Entertainment (24:24) Water (25:49) Plants (30:55) Niche Pets