Vialii Review of 2015
As we squelch forward into 2016, we thought it would be good time to sit back with a cuppa and have a review of 2015. It was another great year for us here at Vialii Towers (especially for Jill & Tilda off on maternity leave!) and we share our garden related highlights here with you. From our favourite garden feature to the best wildlife photograph of 2015 read on to find out more…
Looking back over a happy 2015
Favourite Garden We Visited
This was an easy decision for once. Levens Hall Gardens were so outstanding that they undoubtedly take this accolade. From the moment we stepped through the gates to the topiary garden we were completely spell-bound. The topiary garden is the biggest in the world and wow, is it impressive! But there is more to it than just topiary. From the herbaceous borders to the kitchen gardens, it is absolutely worth a visit. To read more on this wonderful garden read our recent blog on it.
Levens Hall Gardens are out of this world
Favourite Plant of 2015
It’s not new and it’s not cutting edge but we renewed our love of acers in 2015. We used them in a lot of the gardens we designed and the colour, form and texture they provide is just gorgeous. Give them a sheltered corner of your garden and they will give you years of pleasure.
Acers are a wonderful addition to a garden
Favourite Garden Feature We Made
It’s impossible to choose an overall favourite garden that we designed and built as we love them all and they are all so unique. However, as a feature, hand-made by us, we truly love this bespoke seat with in-built planting. Made from hard wood it feels wonderful, looks great and with the lavenders and rosemary planted in it, smells great too.
Bespoke seating can add the wow factor to your garden
Favourite Kids Feature
The winner of this category has to be our very own playhouse. Kindly donated by friends, we gave it a Vialii makeover with a lick of paint, some soft furnishings, home-made artwork, artificial grass “rug”, a new sign and a flower box. It is already a firm favourite in our garden with the girls and all their friends. To read more about the makeover read our blog post.
Lulu LOVES her new playhouse
Favourite Show Garden
We took a year out of doing the big garden shows as we had Tilda (and Lulu) to concentrate on but as always we keenly followed them on TV and online. All the show gardens are amazing and inspire us in different ways but this year our favourite was Adam Frost’s Homebase Garden at Chelsea. It could easily be translated into any modern back garden and is packed full of wonderful features, uses gorgeous materials and the most delightful planting. Gold star!
Adam Frost’s garden for Homebase
And that is our review of 2015. Here’s to another year packed full of wonderful garden adventures.
Best wishes,
All at Vialii
Do You Do Room Service?
Everyone likes a nice, comfy home and bugs are no different from the rest of us. Many are happy to set up home under a pile of leaves or logs. But why not go a step further and create your own bug version of Gleneagles in your very own back garden with a 5 Star Bug Hotel? Here’s how to make a bug hotel…
A stunning bug hotel from the Chelsea Flower Show
Many of us like to have a neat and tidy garden and by doing so we often eradicate the natural habitats bugs can call home. Or in a new garden with lots of hard landscaping and container planting there may be limited places for invertebrates to set up home. Bug hotels are purpose built structures which can be as simple or grand as you like.
A bug hotel on Seil Island with a green roof
Designing A Bug Hotel
The first rule of creating a bug hotel is to incorporate a variety of materials and different shapes and sizes of nooks and crannies. Different bugs have different requirements so in order to be diverse and encourage as much wildlife as possible into your garden make sure you use a wide array of materials. Offer everything from single rooms up to penthouse suites with a spa thrown in for good measure!
[[image:blog/blog-roomservice-3.jpg=A stunning bug hotel from the Chelsea Flower Show using lots of different materials]]
If you can, do a rough design of what you want your bug hotel to look like. Most bug hotels are made from reclaimed material thus making them cheap and easy to build as well as good for the environment. You could use some old pallets which are easy to get hold of to create the different layers of your bug hotel. Or if you are feeling adventurous you could create a real focal point in your garden by building a tower similar to the fantastic work of art at the Chelsea Flower Show a few years ago.
Building A Bug Hotel
Building a bug hotel is a wonderful project to build with children and you can encourage them to collect the materials you are going to use. Many of these you will have lying around the house and you can ask friends and family to donate to your hotel. Ideal materials include:
- Bamboo canes
- Egg cartons
- Pieces of slate
- Straw
- Logs (drill the ends for even more places for bugs to set up home)
- Broken terracotta pots
- Old bricks
- Old roof tiles
Pack the various materials into different sections of your “hotel” and soon you will have created a home which looks interesting and will have wide appeal.
A pallet incorporating a bug hotel at RHS Cardiff Show
Bug Central
So what sort of bugs might pack their bags and move into their new home? Well , common sights include mason bees, woodlice, ladybirds, spiders, beetles and centipedes. By encouraging these bugs into your garden they will help you combat the pests which eat your plants and ruin your grass. Great guests to have and ones which always be welcome back! Wonder if you get Trip Advisor for beetles…
Lots of bamboo canes make an ideal home
If you want advice on building a bug hotel or other ways of turning your garden into a haven for wildlife please get in touch.
For more information on making your own bug hotel please visit our blogs Make Your Own Bug Hotel and How To Make A Bug Hotel.
All at Vialii
The Benefits of Using A Garden Designer
Despite what the weather may be telling us, Spring officially starts this week which for many of us means that our thoughts move to our outdoor spaces. Gardens are an important additional space to our homes and, with some clever garden design, can bring years of joy. Here are some of the benefits of using a garden designer…
A relaxing, family garden we designed and built in Bridge of Allan
But why me?
Our lives are constantly changing and with that the ways in which we use our gardens have to adapt:
- Perhaps you have recently had children (or grandchildren) and want to incorporate a family friendly area into the garden. Or your children may have grown up and now you want your garden to reflect your own needs.
- Maybe you have just moved into a new home and inherited a garden that needs some TLC. Or perhaps an extension has meant the garden needs reinstated.
- Maybe you have less time on your hands and you just want to spend your time sitting and enjoying your garden and need your garden to be less of a chore.
- Perhaps accessibility is a problem and need your garden adapted to allow for this.
- You may have countless ideas but aren’t sure on how to bring them together into one cohesive design.
- Perhaps you have just moved into a new home and want to create a beautiful garden to relax in.
- Or maybe you don’t know quite where to start and need some professional help.
Whatever your requirements, a garden designer can create a unique space which meets your needs.
A timber feature in a garden we designed and built in Stirling
Unusual Ideas
A garden designer will look at unique ways to meet your needs without ruining the aesthetic. A low maintenance garden doesn’t need to be just gravel and a few concrete slabs. And a child friendly garden shouldn’t just be a piece of lawn and a plastic chute. There are much more engaging, innovative ideas which can be employed in your garden and they need not cost the earth either, either financially or environmentally. We have lost count of how many clients have said “we would never have thought of that” when discussing concepts for their garden.
The full colour design for a garden which we designed in Bridge of Allan
Comprehensive Advice
All good garden designers will be able to talk knowledgeably about all areas of a garden including planting that suits your climate, aspect and soil, hard landscaping to suit your requirements and budget and technical requirements such as drainage, lighting, retaining walls etc. Ensuring materials are local and environmentally friendly wherever possible should be second nature to a garden designer.
A terraced garden using sleepers for a softer, more natural look. Designed and built by Vialii
Other benefits include:
- Having a well designed and maintained garden can increase the value of your property.
- Gardens are important as extra living space and are used as an additional room.
- By getting a design, you can see how your garden will look before any of the actual work begins so you are not left disappointed on completion.
- The garden will be designed to suit your own specific requirements whether it be a haven for wildlife, a place for entertaining or simply a place to relax and escape.
A contemporary boardwalk and bespoke deck with in-built seating in a garden in Bridge of Allan. Designed and built by Vialii
But why Vialii?
Vialii Garden Design (VGD) is a young and innovative design and landscaping company, based in Bridge of Allan, near Stirling, with lots of fresh ideas to make your garden look stunning without costing the earth. We love visiting the big flower shows such as Chelsea and finding ways of incorporating the latest trends into gardens at affordable prices.
We are fully qualified – Jill has a Diploma in Garden Design and is a Friend of the Society of Garden Designers – and fully insured. Michael is a qualified structural engineer, a great help in both the design and build of our gardens.
Unusually for garden designers, at Vialii Garden Design we can offer an in-house landscaping service so that we can ensure that the design, which we have so carefully crafted in close collaboration with yourselves, is not compromised in any way when it is built. There are no external contractors who may suggest a change here or a different material there to suit their own skill sets and no other contractors you need to liaise with.
Where other designers may charge for initial consultations, we offer this service for FREE. As a small company, we pride ourselves in excellent customer service and we will endeavour to ensure you are comfortable and happy throughout the whole experience.
VGD’s sister company, Vialii Garden Services, offer a full maintenance package should that be required too, ensuring your garden continues to look exactly as it did when it was brand new. Basically, we love gardens so much there isn’t a job in them that we aren’t prepared to do for you!
Jill, Michael and Lulu relaxing in the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh
Spring is the perfect time to get in touch and start the design process as it means we can have your garden designed and built for the height of the summer in most instances. The only thing we can’t guarantee you in your lovely new garden is the weather!
Hope to hear from you,
Jill, Michael, Lulu and all the Vialii team
Vialii Review of 2011
Christmas is now passed and we’re shuffling towards 2012 which marks a suitable opportunity to reflect on the year just passed and our review of 2011. It’s been a busy year indeed. An exciting one too. We’ve designed and built more gardens than ever before and, with the help of some new additions to the Vialii team, managed to expand the maintenance operations too. We’re hoping to carry forward the momentum into the new year and continue the steady growth although as you’ll read below this is not going to be without it’s fresh challenges. So without further ado we present out Vialii Garden Design awards for 2011.
We visited the amazing Eden Project in 2011
EVENT OF THE YEAR
I’m going to be a Dad! Sometime in January 2012 Vialii will have itself a tiny little apprentice. Without question this has been the single-most exciting ‘project’ I have ever been involved in. It has blown my tiny mind. The learning curve has been both steep and illuminating and I know that I’m nowhere near the top of the curve as yet but I’m relishing the rest of the climb.
GARDEN OF THE YEAR
Due to the pregnancy we opted to holiday in the UK this year and we spent a lovely fortnight plodding around Cornwall. As is our way, we visited a bunch of gardens, Heligan, Trebah, St Michael’s Mount etc but the garden (if you can call it that) that really blew our socks off was The Eden Project. It is just fantastic. The sheer scale of the site is breathtaking and the attention to detail throughout is exquisite. You can read all about our visit to the Gardens of Cornwall here.
A Biodome…in front of Eden’s Biodomes
An honourable mention goes to Jupiter Artland which my beloved and I visited on my birthday in June which not only has stunning Charles Jencks landforms but has the most delightful sculpture garden.
The sculpture garden at Jupiter Artland can be, at times, very atmospheric
GARDEN SHOW OF THE YEAR
RHS Chelsea. My beloved and I both made it to Chelsea this year and we both agreed it was an outstanding event and that Cleve West was a deserved winner with his show garden. As always we found it inspiring and invigorating. Due to the impending baby birth, however, it is unlikely we will make it the Chelsea in 2012 but we’re going to try and squeeze in a baby-friendly show somewhere later in the summer.
Cleve West’s Chelsea winning show garden
A talented garden designer…and Cleve West
That’s about all I can think about awarding for now so I’m going to sign off. I would like to take this opportunity to give a hearty thanks to all the readers of this blog and to our clients for their continued support throughout the year and we wish you all the very best for 2012.
Michael and all at Vialii
Chelsea Flower Show 2011
So, another year and another Chelsea Flower Show. And what a show indeed! With more show gardens and gold medals than last year, a revamp of the Courtyard Garden section and a return to Chelsea for some of our favourite designers we knew it was going to be a good one. So here is our run-down of some of our favourite parts of Chelsea Flower Show 2011 (and a few weird bits too!):
Container gardening
Container gardening has always been a key feature in all gardens whether it’s the expensive show gardens of Chelsea or your own humble back yard. Pots can add some individuality, extra growing space, an environment for plants that won’t grow successfully in your soil or just some added interest to an otherwise uninspiring area of your garden. As you would expect, at Chelsea everything is done to fantastic detail.
In Bunny Guinness’s garden, HUGE, bespoke terracotta pots were made and filled with feature trees:
Bunny Guinness’s large pots
Tom Hoblyn’s Homebase garden featured beautiful pots which were made to symbolise the rockpools of Cornwall and filled with native seaweed. Remember pots can be used as water features and filled with aquatics:
Tom Hoblyn’s water features
In the Monaco garden, again pots were made bespoke, this time to match the knobbly trunk of the exotic trees planted in the garden:
Bespoke pots for the Monaco garden
Pavilions have become a feature of so many show gardens in recent years and these outdoor rooms are becoming more common-place as we want to use our outdoor space more and more. We loved Tom Hoblyn’s pergola with the “floating” glass above it making it rain-proof as well as a stunning finish to the structure.
Tom Hoblyn’s pergola with the “floating” glass
If glamour is your thing, then you couldn’t go wrong with the Monaco garden. The bold statement of the boardwalk cutting right down the middle and pouring water into the ultra-glam swimming pool at the end was just stunning. The rooftop planting of lavender was beautiful and we loved the steps going up the side of the living wall. All the glamour and glitz of Monaco summed up in one small corner of London.
The glamorous Monaco garden
We are always keen to see what new ideas are abound to encourage wildlife into our garden spaces. Wildlife towers have been a feature for a few years now but the Royal Canadian Bank’s garden this year took it to another level. Their fabulous wildlife walls even feature old books. And who knew an old shipping container could look so at home in a garden?!
Royal Canadian Bank’s garden
Trees are always important at Chelsea and every year there is a tussle for the tallest/shiniest/latest trees to include. Our faves this year include Luciano’s Parriotia Persica trees and the ultra shiny Prunus Serrulas on the Winds of Change garden. But how did they get them so shiny??
The very shiny prunus serrula
Plants are what Chelsea is all about. Whether you are ooh-ing over the combinations in the show gardens or taking in the stunning displays in the Great Pavillion there is something for everyone. A plant which kept cropping up in lots of the gardens this year (and will keep cropping up in your own garden as it self-seeds furiously!) is Alchemilla mollis. It has beautiful leaves which look especially lovely with droplets of water sitting on them and pretty frothy lime flowers.
Alchemilla mollis
And we loved spotting our all time favourite plant nestled into one of the gardens. It is of course the Primula vialii:
Primula vialii
Or for a feeling of utter calm, we loved the Trailfinder’s garden – a good book and a glass of Pimms and you could sit under that sail for hours quite happily.
The Trailfinder’s garden
Sculptures can add a real wow factor to the garden and give much needed height, structure and interest. They are there all the year round and clever lighting can make them a real feature at night too. We loved the columns which Cleve used in his garden for the Daily Telegraph. Reminiscent of the Roman ruined columns in Libya, these sculptures were made by artisans in the South of France who used an axe to create the effect on them! Not one to try at home kids!
The columns in Cleve West’s garden
Water features are another key feature in gardens and one that most Chelsea designers incorporated one way or another. Water provides sound, movement, a different surface and is a great way of encouraging wildlife into the garden. There were so many water features that we loved we simply can’t mention them all. There were countless simple, round pools (25 in Diarmuid Gavin’s garden alone!) but we especially loved Cleve’s spouts pouring water out of the wall.
Water spouts in Cleve West’s garden
Timber sleeper beds were a strong feature in Robert Myer’s Cancer Research garden this year. It’s a simple but effective way of creating raised beds, making them so much easier to look after. They also provide extra seating and can create a better growing environment if your soil is not suitable. And of course, they look lovely!
Timber raised beds
Seating is always an important consideration. Too often we spend time and money making our gardens look lovely, only to let them down by bringing our horrible old plastic furniture out. With the fabulous array of garden furniture available in all shapes, sizes, colours and materials there is something to suit everyone’s taste and budget. One of our favourite pieces of furniture was the driftwood bench in the Cancer Research garden.
The driftwood bench in the Cancer Research garden
Adding colour to your garden is important and this is often done through planting. In Anne-Marie Powell’s garden for the British Heart Foundation, she used hard landscaping to add colour to the garden. And colour she certainly did add! The bright red, powder-coated metal arches and the red “stepping-stones” gave a wow-factor to the garden and also provided a close link to the charity. The arches reminded us of veins and the stepping-stones like blood clots and certainly got the charity’s message across in a bold manner.
Anne-Marie Powell’s garden for the British Heart Foundation
Having a wow entrance to your garden certainly sets the scene and none could be more impressive than the Tourism Malaysia garden. What a welcome into the garden with the floating entrance frames and the planting surrounding the entrance certainly evoked Malaysia with the tropical water lilies and trailing jungle vines.
The Tourism Malaysia garden
Creating impact in your garden is important. It can be with some clever planting schemes, interesting features or lovely hard-landscaping. Few of us would consider having a full-size working water-wheel in our garden! That was the main feature of the Leeds HESCO garden. After the success of their lock last year, the industrial water theme was carried on again this year, winning another gold medal. Word is that next year they are considering a windmill in their garden…
Leeds HESCO garden
Sustainability has been a buzz word for several years now and this year was no different. One garden in particular which gave a lot of thought to the subject was the B&Q garden. Everything in the garden had some use with every plant in the garden being edible and the main feature was the tallest structure ever to be seen at Chelsea – a tower block designed to encourage people to use every space possible, no matter how small it is.
The B&Q garden
For sheer, mad ingenuity, we doff our hat to come-back king Diarmuid Gavin and his Irish Sky Garden. The bad boy of gardening had never achieved an elusive Chelsea gold medal before but who could deny him that with this year’s effort? If a mass of pools and box balls was not enough, Diarmuid created a floating garden which is craned high above the show ground. Bonkers? Yes. Worthy of a gold? Definitely!
Diarmuid Gavin and his Irish Sky Garden
We want them! Yes, a garden packed full of huge, lovely box balls as far as the eye can see. Definite ball envy Diarmuid!
The most amazing box balls
If chilling-out in your garden is your thing then the Japanese garden is for you. It certainly lived up to its name “A Beautiful Paradise” with its gorgeous planting, trickling water and sympathetic hard landscaping. And relax…
Moss balls in the Japanese garden
Another theme prevalent over recent times is recycling and this was well represented in the Winds of Change garden. Recycled objects included old gym boards, a Victorian safe and a prison door! The main feature though were the air-conditioning units which were used as wind turbines. Worthy of the best Urban Garden.
Winds of Change garden
If you are bored with the traditional use of materials in the garden then have a look at the Bradstone garden for unusual ways to create interest. Instead of laying slabs in the traditional manner, they were held together by vertical pins to create a wall.
Bradstone garden
Living walls have become very trendy in recent years and even high street stores have used them in their shopfits. They continued to be well represented in Chelsea again this year. Our favourites were those in the Monaco garden and the Magistrates Association garden. If you want to achieve this affect then you will need vertical wall pockets and an irrigation system. Living walls can be created both indoors and out.
OK, so you’ve seen the beautiful but what about the weird?? Well it wouldn’t be Chelsea if there weren’t one or two things that raised an eye brow! Normally we love it when designers push boundaries and come up with something a little bit different. But we just couldn’t love the blue (yes, blue!) artificial grass in the Chilstone Garden.
Chilstone Garden
Or, even stranger, a watering can that was on sale at Chelsea which you wee into (yes, you heard us!) and then water down and use to fertilise your garden. Hmm, think we might give that a miss!
A water can you wee in!
And on that note we wish you a cheery Chelsea goodbye!
All at Vialii