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Tom Angel Studio Ecological Landscape Design, Consultancy & Planting | Tom Angel CHort, MHort (RHS), PGDip(GD)

05/10/2026

If you have cut your wildflower meadow or grass for the autumn now is a good time to pop in some plug plants to help boost the diversity!

Here are some great additions to drier areas and an inexhaustive list of what wildlife they help support. Remeber that the benefit of a diverse variety of plants is also crucial below ground as well; a variety of rooting types and depths helps aid water drainage, retention and soil structure!

If you would like some help diversifying your plantlife to boost ecological function please get in touch!

01/10/2026

It is time to cut your meadow to ensure it thrives next season! Here are some top tips:

šŸŒø cut down to 5-10cm from the ground - this saves the crowns of perennials!
šŸŒø you can leve a mixture of heights if you want to create variety in the overwintering habitat for insects.
šŸŒø leave the cuttings sitting for a little while before you rake up - whether it is an hour or a day it will help to make sure all the seeds fall out of the seed heads and remain in your meadow.
šŸŒø remove the cut material!! This is crucial. If it is left to rot in situ it will increase the nutrient levels in the soil and the grasses will take over.
šŸ„ be the herbivore. This is a good moment to remove any undersirables from your meadow i.e. plants that may take over. Docks, unwanted grasses, Creeping Buttercup and Thistles are good ones to focus on.

There were still some plants flowering in this meadow but overall many had gone to seed and it was our only opportunity to cut it. And as you can see there were many perennials thriving at ground level. As long as you have a good percentage of plants gone to seed (especially in an annual meadow) and it gets cut you should be on to a winner!

If you need some assistance in the meadow managing process please get in touch.

19/08/2026

This week we have been deep in the world of plug planting and it's not stopping any time soon.

Plug planting is such a quick and easy way to boost the diversity of your grassland or meadow. These little diversity bombs are quicker to establish than seed, require less ground prep but are cheaper than buying full sized plants.

The best part is that you don't need a huge area to make them worth it, if you want to diversify your garden but aren't sure that a full meadow is the one for you then plugs may be the answer. Just keep an eye that the grass doesn't outcompete them and allow them to self seed and you will see the benefits rolling in.

If you would like some help enhancing your grassland then give us a call!!

07/08/2026

Our Strathclyde meadow two months post sowing and it's doing well! This was a relatively late season sowing and at least three of the weeks since we created this meadow were extremely dry and hot in Glasgow plus this is an exposed site so we are thrilled at the diversity of the growth and relatively low level of grass regrowth.

Very very smug to also immediately see many bees, hoverflies and butterflies enjoying the blooms as well. The Yarrow and Bird's-foot Trefoil seem to be doing the best here but the plugs are coming along nicely as well.

This of course does not require this scale, successful meadows can be created on small areas as well and we love doing them in residential gardens so please get in touch if you think your space could do with a meadow. Autumn is also great for getting meadows created but the season is short!

04/08/2026

Although we are not yet into autumn it is a great time to start thinking about your garden in spring 2027.

Early flowering spring bulbs not only provide the important first bloom of colour we all desperately need after winter, they also are crucial early food sources for garden insects.

We are starting to plan our autumn bulb planting calendar so if you are not sure which bulbs to plant and where we can help create natural looking drifts of native bulbs that come spring will have your garden flush with colour and life!!

Send us a message or an email if you are interested in bulb planting in your garden.

23/07/2026

Lots of heather may be sweetly bloomin right now but it is good to know what to do when your heather has flowered and done it's job.

If it is not trimmed then over time it can become legy and woody and then more difficult to trim without causing damage.

Watch and save this video Anna has made so you know what to do to keep your heather in top condition.

20/07/2026

If you are lucky enough to have a Wisteria you are going to want to hear what Anna has to say about pruning!

Wisteria is absolutely beloved by various bees so is a real winner in the garden but they can quickly get out of hand if they aren't pruned. This will also help keep them bushier rather than having lots of spindly growth.

16/07/2026

Summer is always a busy time of year and often we are taken up with our own plans and hectic goings on. But next time you are outside, take a moment to stop and see who else might be living a busy little life right under your nose. There is probably more than you think.

Specific habitats support very specific ranges of occupants and some of them can be extremely picky about what they eat and where they live. We always advocate for thinking about a funcitoning ecosystem as a whole but it is also important to zoom into the individuals to ensure we are seeing the whole picture.

This is the mindset we use when thinking about the spaces we work in and recomend it when you are considering any sort of green space intervention.

Often, the closer you look, the bigger the wild world becomes. How many species of bee can you see in this one video?

13/07/2026

What is the definition of a w**d?... It is simply a plant growing in a place that we do not want it to be.

So really, they are no plants and they are all plants. Confused? Don't fret, Anna has a great way of deciding which 'w**ds' to remove and which can stay. Watch the video to find out!

If you are quite happy to leave some traditional w**ds in the ground you can reap some real rewards:
- many provide the larval food source for native insects or are important nectar sources for pollinators. Ragwort feeds the Cinnabar Moth caterpillar, while Hogw**d (NOT Giant) is loved by hoverflies.
- they can tell you what is happening in your soil. Dandelions can indicate compaction and high calcium.
- lots are particularly tasty! Nettle pesto, nettle tea, nettle soup... just wear gloved to harvest!
- they provide crucial ground cover while the soil is not under cultivation retains water, C02, nutrients and keeps soil temperatures at a reasonable level.

07/07/2026

Anna has made us a nice hornbeam hedge touch up video!

Usually we would say avoid trimming hedges in the summer if you can, particularly if they are newly planted or might have nesting birds in, but this warm and wet weather has all the plant life thriving!

So if you have a hedge that is slightly encroaching on your beds and you know noone is living in, like this young hornbeam, then you can give it a small trim to keep in check and maintain a bushier growth.

Any other hedge based queries comment below! šŸƒ

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Suite 1, 55 Ruthven Lane
Glasgow
G129BG

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