Tips to Refresh Your Garden Planting for 2026 A winter guide from our Senior Garden Designer, Ruby Simpson Wet, cold winter days often push us indoors - swapping time in the garden for cosy films and fireside reading. But while your outdoor space may look sleepy, winter is [...]
Eight of the best gardens to visit in England: Jared's desert island garden picks If you’re a fan of Desert Island Discs, you’ll know the premise: if you were stranded on a desert island and could take only eight pieces of music, which would they be and which single [...]
Garden lighting: how to make winter less gloomy When winter arrives in the UK, gardens often feel cold, wet and lifeless. But it doesn’t have to be that way. As the evenings draw in and we switch on every indoor light, our windows turn into mirrors, shutting out the [...]
How to design an edible garden Over recent years, I’ve had the immense privilege of working with Raymond Blanc in his gardens at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire. Raymond’s passion for plants and their uses is infectious - he’s curious. I value curiosity too but in today’s world [...]
Top garden design considerations for your outdoor space In this blog, Cotswold designer and RHS Chelsea judge, Liz Nicholson, shares her top garden design considerations and expert insights when it comes to designing a new outdoor space. We have all been in the position of the shopping list when [...]
February 2025 marks the one-year anniversary of statutory biodiversity net gain (BNG). Nicholsons Ecology Team have reflected on this national framework and the importance it has on protecting and enhancing ecosystems. What is biodiversity net gain? Biodiversity net gain (BNG) is a development approach that ensures biodiversity [...]
Winter strips our garden and landscapes of all the frills and lays bare the bones of our little corner of Eden. If we have wisely planned in evergreen shrubs, then all is not bleak but look from your upstairs window and it is the hedges that define [...]
By Rachel Crapper, Assistant Ecological Consultant The Eurasian otter is the apex predator of the UK’s freshwater ecosystems. As opportunistic carnivores, they primarily feed on fish but will also eat crustaceans, frogs, molluscs and even small water birds. Otters require a mix of good quality water sources in close proximity to terrestrial habitats, making [...]
Floriography is the language of flowers which have meanings derived from Greek mythology. They were often used by Shakespeare in his playwriting and they were studied by the Victorians who used flowers to send secret and complex romantic messages. The Victorians not only used different species to convey a variety of messages but also [...]
By Libby Reeves, Head of Horticulture There is an association between soil fungi and plant roots that covers over 90% of plant life, this is known as mycorrhiza. It works in a symbiotic way with benefits to both the plant and the fungi. The plant provides carbohydrates from photosynthesis whilst the fungi assist with [...]
Gardens can have such a positive impact on our well-being. Time outdoors with nature, sunshine, growing plants and tidying your garden space can help to improve your physical and mental health through extra hours of daylight, fulfilment, purpose and grounding. We can make simple changes in our own gardens and lives to benefit us, [...]
The UK is home to six wild species of deer, of which only two are native; the iconic red deer and the illusive roe. The remaining four species (fallow, Chinese water deer, muntjac and sika) were introduced to this country primarily for sport hunting. Since the Norman conquest of 1066, the UK countryside has [...]
The summer holidays are fast approaching and parents don’t know whether to be excited, relieved or panicked. The children, however, are over the moon! They are planning adventures, dreaming of sun, sea and sand and bubbling to the brim with anticipation and giddiness, imagining what this summer could bring. As the end of term [...]
Topiary is the shaping of shrubs or trees into ornamental shapes. Many of us will have formed our first impressions of topiary through visits to historic buildings. You may have come away with memories of tiny box hedges with gravel in between or avenues of clipped hedges leading the eye to a victory column. [...]
By Libby Reeves, Head of Horticulture I have been studying trees and plants in scientific formats for many years, particularly their growth habit, how they have evolved and why they are here. This is something I feel well-versed in and have written about on several occasions. I fell in love with plants [...]
With the weather alternating between sun and rain, the garden weeds are thriving. Bindweed snakes its way up and around our shrubs until you can barely see what’s under them, ground elder marches relentlessly across our borders, brambles burst forth through the foliage of our shrubs, clumps of meadow grass announce themselves in the [...]
By Katie Stevens, Forestry Assistant Throughout the world, we are experiencing the effects of climate change with unpredictable, extreme and out of season weather conditions. This is the second of three blogs that will look at various species that are predicted to cope with the stressors of climate change. Each section will include [...]
The challenge of creating privacy within a garden is frequently discussed with our clients. In the Nicholsons Garden Design Team, we encourage natural screening wherever possible, if not physical structures softened by greenery to limit any incoming line of sight or equally block an unwanted view on neighbouring land/property. The Design Team has summarised [...]
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