September 3rd, 2010
This summer seems to have gone by so quickly – and now I look out in my garden and everything is starting to look worn out and old - but look more closely and some plants are doing all they can to keep going - the sweet peas are fighting for their last few buds to open, the Verbena bonariensis is bravely soldiering on and still has a lot of life left in it - and the roses are in their 3rd flush!…and some flowers are only just beginning to show off as their turn in the spot light approaches…
September is a strange month in the garden with so much on its last legs and many other plants just beginning to live – here’s some that love the end of Summer and the beginning of Autumn…
Anemone hupehensis – saucer shaped flowers that like semi shade and sun and show off shell pink to white flowers
Aster x frikartii ‘Monch’
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August 25th, 2010
An exciting but uncertain time…
Well what an exciting time we have been having meeting the Royal Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall.
But now we are back to the serious work.
1 –We have to make sales in the private sector on the strength of the Evolution Garden success at Sandringham. On our Commercial Side – its going to be doubly difficult with the recent Public sector cuts.
2 – What is going to take up slack in the slight slow down of the public sector works?
Well personally I have a gut feeling it’s not going to be as bad as we are led to believe.
I do not think the public sector cuts will have a big enough effect to completely knock the other re-emerging markets other than the public sector that is again kicking off to boost the economy and take up slack.
Last Thursday I was interviewed by Stephen Nowland of BBC 5 Live shortly after he had interviewed the minister on what effects the recent drastic public spending cuts would have on developers and landscapes companies like ourselves who historically have relied on quite a large proportion of their turnover coming from public sector work. He particularly wanted to try to get a feel for how the staff on the ground were dealing with the recent cuts. (Did it make them less confident employment wise??)
I could only give him the view from where I sat, which was that the future looks bright for us. In the history of this company we have never had so many opportunities to tender come through the door. But it would be still very difficult in the interim to bridge the gap to get to the future. In our case we are drawing confidence from the fact we have been doing some high profile projects to expand our exposure to markets other than Government Departments that are becoming more buoyant.
Steve Nowland gave figures on how it has started to improve – this is believed to continue but it is going to be slip back to higher unemployment in the wake of recent public sector cuts.
See my Interview on Radio 5 Live
-Roger
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August 6th, 2010
Keeping up with the Jones’s and busy Jane’s prolific blogging!
My job as MD is to see the balance is kept between our private sector work and our very credible commercial Department. I used to be paranoid about keeping these two departments separate but when you look at it – what is the difference? For instance, the private sector work can carry to over 100 K where as a British Heritage project such as Grey Friars Tower in Kings Lynn can be a few hundred thousand pound project with even more detailed planting and intricate hard landscaping than some in the private sector. Then there are cross- over projects such as the garden at Milton Road Primary School Cambridge which would be classed as commercial but bossy Jane from our design department in the private sector got totally involved and provided the planting design for their world inspired courtyard garden. Jane chose historic plants from different cultures and countries that feature in the school’s curriculum so that the children could get a feel for what plants different culture’s and historical times used.
But getting away from plant’s and all things landscaping – Principal Designer Steve’s wife has produced a healthy and well mannered baby boy called Benjamin who postponed his arrival just long enough so that his Dad could be introduced to Prince Charles at Sandringham Flower show last week. Benjamin seems to be just like his Dad – at only 2 hours old his hair was already down to the lobe of his ears!
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August 4th, 2010
Just a few things about this garden’s potential to be adapted to personal taste and cultures and developed for entertaining guests.
The covered pergola in the corner could be replaced by a Bedouin tent, a North American sweat lodge or a Russian banya and many more variations. My son recently married a Russian girl and I very much enjoyed being entertained in the Russian culture which involved the Russian banya experience being thrashed with birch twigs and then jumping into cold water! My family also has a Canadian Indian friend and enjoyed sweat lodge ceremonies.
The water feature plunge pool in the centre of the garden coulb be adapted to a seating area with fire pit – or just a sunken lounge area to sit around a brazier or natural fire under the stars until the early hours – a very much ‘back to nature’ effect.
The planting could also be adapted to personal taste and all year interest – also a roof garden is not to be ruled out. The pool could be modified plus light weight materials could be used.
PS: I have family members who have built Russian banyas!
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August 2nd, 2010
What a Team!!!
Initially the Sandringham flower show committee had the confidence to ask us to design and build the showcase garden in the Royal Marquee. This is the garden that HRH The Prince of Wales visits on on his walk round of the show and is judged separately from the other show gardens on site. We also had the added bonus of having a great sponsor on board in the shape of Marshalls Toyota Kings Lynn. Their top man Phil Saunders had the belief to put up sponsorship in this unstable climate – daring to tread where others feared to walk and using the opportunity to promote the launch of their British built new Auris hybrid. without Phil’s help and all the other generous donators, we would not have got garden!
Our designers and team got it completely right as per spec I had asked for. One judge even told me it was the best garden he had judged in his 20 odd years as a Sandringham judge and another in his 30 years – they loved everything about it from the colours to the choice of plants and features.
The Prince of Wales also seemed to be impressed – being fascinated by the technical elements and particularly liking the old metal ladle water feature.
But what shocked me most of all was the public’s reaction to the garden! We all thought it would be a bit of a marmite moment – people either loving or hating it – but they all seemed to love it and I would like to thank them for all their wonderful comments – its a job to believe but i didn’t hear one negative comment!
I would also like to thank my team and everyone involved from Paul Murrell and the Sandringham Committee, my team, the sponsors and donators and suppliers and everyone else involved. It was a great occasion!!
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July 29th, 2010
We got there! The garden got finished in time!! After 2 weeks of blood, sweat and nervous breakdowns – it was completed!! But bloomin’ heck it was hard work! No time for frivolity or messing about this time – it was just solid work from dawn to dusk! The lads worked their socks off (literally) and were a great team – coping with everything that was thrown at them including me being a bossy bitch troll continuously for a fortnight! Yes this build was certainly not without its panics but we got there in the end.
We were awarded a gold medal and and the judges loved it! Which was great to hear. We also had a royal visit and some rather well known faces came and looked around the garden including Dame Judy Dench and food critic Matthew Fort.
It was a risk this time – using very striking colours that are not everyone’s cup of tea – but we felt we had to do something different to show that we don’t just do theatrical – we knew from the start that using black as the main colour was going to divide opinion into the love it and hate it camps but weren’t prepared for just how many loved it! It really surprised me anyway!
So here are some pictures just to whet your appetite – there will be more to follow (better ones as these were taken by a very tired me on Tuesday evening) and lots more on our main website so keep checking back to see them! 
I’ll also tell you more about the theme and inspiration behind it so stay tuned! – Jane
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July 22nd, 2010
Day…. something
I have been painting – alot! Everyone is being busy little bees and yet still we are behind schedule – our damn concrete won’t dry!! We have now brought in the big guns and out of sheer desperation hired an industrial heater to see if that will help. The lengths we will go to hey! So on a hot summer’s day – our poor lads are inside a big tent with an industrial heater going full blast! Bless them – but heat stroke and severe dehydration is a small sacrifice to pay in the world of show gardens… usually you’re lucky to get away with your sanity kind of intact!
We’ve had the show ground to ourselves for the past week and now slowly the builders of the show gardens are coming onto site to begin their creations. Our plants are starting to arrive tomorrow and hopefully I should be able to start setting them out on Sunday… although the rate in which all our plastering and concrete is drying - who knows… I wonder if it would matter if we left it in its unfinished state and proclaimed it as modern art?….
I can’t really post any more pictures of it now as although we are behind schedule, there is enough of it in existence for it to ruin the surprise – so it will just me be dribbling on incoherently until the day of the show (or perhaps the day after) when I shall post far too many pictures of the finished(?) garden.
All I can say is – I think it is going to be one of those gardens you either love or hate…
-Jane
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July 17th, 2010
Day 6.. (I think)
Hello! We have had wind trouble the last couple of days!! Not us personally but the Marquee - it all started Thursday afternoon – out of nowhere the wind got up and would not leave us alone! The poor marquee suffered the most and had to have emergency re-inforcements – thankfully it survived the night and more very strong winds. The wind is just starting to settle now so hopefully that will be the end of that! We have had torrential down pours today but that I can cope with – I just don’t like wind!!!!
Everything is going OK – a few small issues but nothing drastic – but still there’s time! Bless them – the lads are working like little beavers and on a saturday too! The slope has caused us a bit of a problem because the marquee has been built up to follow it so now our garden although level, looks a bit wonky as it is not following the line of the marquee – not sure how we are going to get around that yet. Its a new thing for all of us to be building a garden inside – a whole different set of challenges to building a show garden outside.
As I suspected I have had to get my hands dirty – I am chief painter and sealer – so if the paint work looks rubbish – blame me! Although its amazing that any of the paint actually reached what it was supposed to – I ended up with far more on me than anywhere else! Oh and it is black paint… very hard to get off black paint! My face looked like I was going to a french revolution fancy dress party – all I needed was the white wig! However I have now discovered the wonders of Swarfega- does that make me an honorary workman now?
Anyway I am off because I ache all over and need a Magnum ice cream quite desperately!
-Jane
Shaun working hard!
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July 14th, 2010
Day 3
The marquee has gone up today!! It’s one of those traditional ones and I must say it was quite impressive to watch. An army of workmen arrived on site and worked like a well oiled machine for the whole morning putting it up. All we could do was nervously watch – keeping our beady eyes on the height of the sides and silently willing the marquee to be as tall as possible. As the canvas at last fell over it, like a shroud over a skeleton, I did feel a little wave of relief – the sides are taller than I thought and we should be ok. Now the site really does look like a Time Team dig and we are attracting rather alot of attention from Sandringham visitors having a peek – as long as the only skeleton is the metal one of the marquee, we will be ok!
Now we can start building the features and getting some height happening and tomorrow the steel arrives!
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July 12th, 2010
Day 1
‘Day wun in the Giles Landscapes garden ‘
There is a very big hole!! That’s all I can say – today we have mostly been digging a hole!! The site unfortunately is on a rather steep slope (well actually its not that steep – it just looks it when you desperately want a flat site) so we are having to dig down a bit… (a lot) then it will be time for marking out, footings and pipework for our water feature… and then on Wednesday the Marquee goes up around (hopefully) our beautifully dug out hole… so no photos today because it is just… a hole!!
-Jane
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