Hine Garden Design

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Hine Garden Design Designing gardens that feel part of your home and enhance your lifestyle
🌿Consultancy
🌿Bespoke Design
🌿Build Monitoring
🌿Planting
🌿Gardening Team

12/10/2026

Allow me to introduce you to my Samples Shelves 🎉

My partner calls it hoarding... but I am rebranding it as 'Professional Curiosity and Thoroughness'.

So what is this wonderful jumble of shelves I hear you ask?

Well it is a space outside at Hine Garden Design HQ where I keep all my samples.

These could be from previous projects, samples that haven't quite made it into a project yet or just simply something I liked the look of. The top shelf but one is where I combine different materials for current projects, experiment, try different combinations, often with some of the house building materials too, such as the stone and house bricks you can see here.

These shelves also enable me to see how these materials survive and weather outside when exposed, see how they combine in sun, shade and rain, when we have any of course! It is one thing to see how stone and timber look on the day they arrive. It is quite another to watch them sit through a summer, frost and rain and see how a combination (and even sometimes the material) holds up against time.

This little library of samples means I am never guessing. Every suggestion I make has already proved itself before it goes anywhere near your garden.

It's not all plants 😉🌱

29/09/2026

A plant doing rather more than looking good here. 👇

In this summers heat this Wisteria has been deliberately left full. This allows it to shade the wall, taking the brunt of the heat and keeping solar heat gain off the building when the last thing you want is more warmth indoors.

The gardening team have given it a tidy up though, clearing it mainly from the roof area. This is best done when the material is green and soft such that its removal doesn't harm the building or its roof- intrepid explorer that Wisteria can be!

Come winter this will get a proper prune, this and leaf drop will leave the walls more exposed, allowing natural light in through the windows and provide a splash of heat from the winter sun to warm the walls.

Two seasons, two completely different jobs, same plant.

08/09/2026

This wall of course also does the job of 'veiling' the garden.

The veiling creates a sense of intrigue and separation. The fact that it interrupts the view means it pulls you through the space encouraging you to enjoy the garden further, experiencing the fireplace, the corten and the different levels of planting as part of the journey through the space.

It has the added benefit of obscuring the more utilitarian area of the garden- the side return. Yes, the gate will likely be shut, but it helps close it off and makes the area feel a bit more cosseted, a space of its own, emersed in the garden.

04/09/2026

Connecting spaces is one of the foundations of good garden design 🌿

In this garden we have used corten and a red brick to create both harmony and contrast. The materials complement one another beautifully, helping different areas feel connected while still bringing their own character.

Then of course you have the planting. We are lucky enough to be able to borrow the view of a neighbouring Beech tree for it's autumn/wither coppery tones, and the the rich copper tones of the ferns as the fronds unravel. As the seasons change these coppery planting tones flow through the garden and they speak well to the corten moments that we have in the garden.

Even this timer feature wall will eventually be stained a deeper, richer colour to compliment the rich and moody tones of this courtyard garden.

Good gardens aren't just about individual features. They're about how everything works together.

Details matter

03/09/2026

So we have these three lovely planters here planted up with Liriope.

Now Liriope is not a grass, it looks like a grass, but it’s actually a flowering evergreen perennial.

An intentional choice for this feature.

Just as many plants are beginning to fade, Liriope comes into its own with, in this case, purple flower spikes in autumn, bringing colour and interest as you sit outside and enjoy your garden on those warmer autumn evenings with a nice beverage or two. 🥂

It also helps transform what could otherwise be a fairly plain white wall, while the use of the corten creates a visual connection between the two spaces that border the dining space.

Repeated materials are a simple detail, evergreen planting a solid choice, but together they help the whole garden feel connected and considered.

01/09/2026

This might seem like a really simple feature...

But you guys seem to really enjoy it!

It’s a permeable wall in the sense that you can see right through it like an open slated screen.

As you arrive into this garden it helps to separate the area from the rest of the garden with a sense of curiosty and anticipation upon arrival- what sits beyond? It creates structure through the winter and sitting at the base you have these lovely textures of planting creating a contrast against it.

It complements the corten and brickwork in the background such that it sits naturally in the space.

And, if you want, while you are having a garden beverage (naturally 🥂🍺) you can use it as a rather convenient leaning post.

A way to create individual spaces without making any of the wider garden feel smaller for it.

Their own space

Their own purpose

Thier own identity

Nice!

28/08/2026

Back in this garden today, and things are starting to take off. 🌿

We' have got some blooms coming in, and the climbing jasmine has reached beyond the original wires.

When we first planted it, we installed vine eyes ready for additional support, but held off adding the extra wire straight away as we didn't want it to stand out against the black fencing. Now the plant is ready, so the next section of wire is going in.

We gently teased the jasmine away from the frame to encourage it along. As it produces longer tendrils, we'll continue guiding its growth, and next month there should be more new stems to tie in.

What a joy it is to watch the plants we install bloom  🌼

Still looking good, despite the dry spell ☀️But how?After this relentless period of dry weather in the UK and the driest...
27/08/2026

Still looking good, despite the dry spell ☀️

But how?

After this relentless period of dry weather in the UK and the driest July on record it is safe to say most gardens are struggling.

However, here are some plants from our clients’ gardens that don’t have irrigation and are still managing to shine despite the lack of rain.

🌿 Trachelospermum Jasminoides (Climbing Evergreen Jasmine) – all about the fragrance and winter colour
🌿 Hylotelephium (Sedum) – particularly useful for late-season interest
🌿 Pittosporum – brilliant for year-round structure and available in a range of foliage colours
🌿 Aster × frikartii 'Mönch' – a welcome splash of colour later in the season
🌿 Iris Foetidissima (the wonderfully named roast beef plant) whose leaves are said to smell a little like roast beef crisps when crushed... we'll let you be the judge of that one!
🌿 Saponaria - great ground cover plant

It’s important to note that this isn't just about choosing the right plants. It's about putting the right plant in the right place and allowing it time to establish.

Many garden plants become surprisingly drought tolerant once they're properly established which all of these plants are. Along with a commitment to watering (a particular challenge with regional hosepipe bans- I know), this can be the formula to help your garden weather periods of drought with far greater resilience, keeping it looking beautiful even when rain is in short supply.

Have you planted any of these in your garden? 🌱

20/08/2026

A comfortable space for dining.

When designing this space we could have felt limited by the size of the garden, however this would have done the garden a disservice, emphasizing the challenge of a smaller space. Instead this became an opportunity to create a generous area for socialising and dining that doesn't feel cramped, and instead, celebrated this primary function of the garden.

Having visitors and being able to pull out your dining table to the centre of the space, fosters a convivial environment where you, and your guests, want to spend time. Where you don't feel cramped and 'in the way'- not the vibe! This allows you and your fellow diners to relax into the space, to get your drinks out to you (yes please! 🥂), or simply move about the space.

So don't be afraid to give yourself the space to use your garden as effectively and comfortably as you can, after all it is there to be enjoyed with family and friends. 🥂

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