Silvia's Garden London

Silvia's Garden London 🌿 Masterplan, planting & ecosystem guidance
🌦️ Designing climate-resilient UK gardens that thrive
🏡 Partnering with you to nurture living spaces

06/10/2026

Embrace the beauty of late summer in your shady garden 🌿✨
Shade is often seen as an obstacle by garden owners, but what if I told you that the shadier areas of your garden could be what truly will make your garden unique? Many of the most unusual varieties of plants thrive in the shade and you can have colour all year around in a shady garden, along with a huge variety of leaves shapes.
Increasingly hot summers and stronger UV rays have really highlighted the value of shade to preserve moisture and protect from leaf scorch.
So, if you felt hard done for by your shady garden, think again! You can grow exotic looking plants like the beautiful orchid flowers of Tricyrtis, hardy Begonia Sapporo from Japan and small trees like Heptacodium, loved by bees and draught tolerant. Vibrant blues like Sollya heterophilla and Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, and Cyclamen hederifolium Album to colonise under trees.
Which one’s your favorite? 🌸

If you want to find out how we could turn your shady garden into a plantsman paradise, get in touch!

29/09/2026

Everyone loves yellow in the spring, but somehow in summer it becomes more of a marmite issue. Love it or hate it? I personally re discovered yellow when exploring prairie style planting. It is no surprise that North American natives are prevalent in this selection. Yellow is the colour that nature uses in every season, winter included, to attract pollinators and in summer this is no exception. These are the yellow plants I fell in love with this year:

🐝 Oenothera stricta sulphurea, a native of North America, this delicate flowering perennial has been named evening primrose by European settlers. It has the same delicate colour of a primrose and it opens when the sun goes down. A joy to have.

🐝Silphium lacinatum, the Compass plant. This is an amazing prairie plant. Its leaves orient themselves vertically North to South. I have discovered it when visiting Tom Start Smith’s Plant Library in Hertfordshire. Statuesque and invaluable for wildlife. As the climate in the UK changes I expect to see it much more often.

🐝 Thalictrum flavum. Gardeners often choose the purple varieties of this plant but I cannot tell you I have ever seen any of the purple ones so full of bees. Looks amazing in a wildlife garden. Here is at Great Dixter, or plant heaven as I like to call it 😅

🐝 Foeniculum vulgare, the fennel. If you don’t have space for the giants this will definitely add that elegant yellow that bees love to your border. Let it self seed to add value for wildlife.

🐝 Sisyrinchium striatum. An architectural grass this is actually a native to the UK. It adds structure to the border. I personally love it paired with Salvia as in this picture from one of my planting designs.

So what do you say? Have I changed your mind about yellow in the garden in summer? If you would like to add some yellow to your borders or inject more biodiversity to your garden please get in touch. Autumn is nature’s planting season, start your garden today.

dreamgardens

Another day, another garden visit. This time it is one of my most ambitious projects and one of my favourites. This smal...
23/09/2026

Another day, another garden visit. This time it is one of my most ambitious projects and one of my favourites. This small garden belongs to a lovely professional couple who wanted a space where to sit and enjoy nature with their dog and two cats. The shady garden enclosed by high neighbouring walls has been a challenge but this is exactly what allowed me to make it truly unique. I love working with Straightcurve Corten Steel retaining walls as they are a designers dream. Allow for the most fanciful curves and it is a very eco-friendly material. Lasts 40plus years and it can be recycled. No foundations to worry about. What’s not to love.

🧡 So if you think your garden is difficult, even impossible, I would love to take on the challenge! Autumn is nature’s time for planting, get in touch today to start your journey to a garden you truly love 🍂

Which plant is your favourite? It’s a question I am asked always when my profession comes up. But when it comes to plant...
22/09/2026

Which plant is your favourite? It’s a question I am asked always when my profession comes up. But when it comes to plants I simply cannot get enough of, there are so many I am never sure where to start. So I thought I would group them by flower colour and here they are 🩷
These are my new PINK obsessions.

💕Anisodontea ‘El Rayo’ - I bought mine at the last Hampton Court Flower Show. Care instructions say prune after flowering. Good luck understanding when that is! In February I decided that I would just prune despite the fact that it was still flowering! And this year it has exploded. Definitely a winner in the border, adored by bees and all insects. It is a mallow and a new introduction from the Cape Region in South Africa. It will exhaust itself in 3 to 5 years so take cuttings.

💕 Dahlia ‘Fenna Baaij’ - Dahlia are definitely enjoying warmer summers. In this raised bed there is no need to lift the tubers. I love the mix of ruffled and single petals. And so did this red admiral butterfly.

💕Lagerstroemia Indica or crepe myrtle is a small tree or shrub. I personally am in love with the bark of this tree which is similar to a eucalyptus. A new introduction from South East Asia it is becoming quite popular for its drought tolerance.

💕Rosa Charles Rennie Mackintosh - I know, it is to die for but it has been retired by David Austin. It is not disease resistant and it gets mildew but when it doesn’t, it is just stunning. I have had 2 since I started my rose garden and they are not going anywhere.

💕 Scented pelagornium ‘Pink Capricorn” - scented pelagorniums are my newest obsession. It is because I love touching and smelling plants, it is a quirk of mine, an obsession within the obsession. So… now I need a greenhouse.

💕Rosa ‘Strawberry Hill’ - Let’s face it, roses were my first obsession and I could include so many in this list. This year a particular mention was earned by this climber. It was the first to flower and flowering still!

📝which of these is your favourite? Are plants your obsession? Want a partner in crime to share it with? Get in touch to see what new plants and collections we could add to your garden 🩷 ❤️

Another garden visit back to a project completed in April. The goal was to create an inviting, natural space built for e...
19/09/2026

Another garden visit back to a project completed in April. The goal was to create an inviting, natural space built for entertaining.

By combining corten steel with permeable paving and gravel, we built a durable, beautifully balanced space. I was glad to hear that the clients are happy, they finally have the space they dreamed of and have received many compliments about their new garden.

📲 Ready to transform your garden? Drop me a DM to start your own garden journey.

Today, I went back to one of my gardens to carry out what I call a seasonal visit. Seasonal visits allow me to assess ho...
16/09/2026

Today, I went back to one of my gardens to carry out what I call a seasonal visit.
Seasonal visits allow me to assess how the planting is doing, what is thriving and what isn’t, especially after the summer we have had.

Visits like today are all about directing and planning for the autumn planting season. Autumn is when we need to prepare for the first burst of color after winter and it is prime shrub and tree planting season.

I usually carry out two to three visits per year. Autumn, early Spring and late Spring. The aim is to keep the garden evolving in the right direction, to stay true to the original design intent.

Today I spent time assessing which plants truly loved their position and which ones fell a little short of our expectations. Nature is always full of surprises, and not every plant performs as planned. That is completely normal.

Creating a garden is not a single event that finishes when the last plant goes into the ground. Making a garden is a process that continues through time, It is an ongoing relationship. By returning each season, I can guide your plants as they mature, adjust to changing weather, and ensure your outdoor space continues to feel effortless and joyful year after year.

💬 Have you noticed which areas of your garden coped best with the summer heat this year? Send a direct message or visit the link in my profile if you would like to discuss seasonal guidance for your outdoor space.

15/09/2026

Absolutely all the best ideas start from a kitchen table.
In fact, every single sustainable, climate-resilient garden I’ve ever created started right here. No sterile corporate boardrooms, no spotless studio… just me, sitting at my kitchen table surrounded by coffee mugs, soil sample bags, stacks of plants catalogs, and the beautiful chaos of family life.

Building my business around my life as a mum means my work isn’t just a 9-to-5 job. It’s who I am. I live, breathe, and obsess over plants.🌱

Creating a biodiverse, naturalistic garden isn’t about picking generic nursery lists or laying down the choice of materials. It’s about deep horticultural knowledge, genuine passion, and sitting down together to map out a living, breathing ecosystem that adapts and thrives throughout the years.

You bring the vision for how you want your outdoor space to feel. I’ll bring the plant expertise, the masterplan, and the hands-on planting to guide your garden as it matures.

☕️Whether we’re spreading out plans over my kitchen table or yours—let’s create a naturalistic garden that lasts.
📩 Send me a DM—let’s start the conversation.

10/09/2026

You think your graden is hopeless? I thought the same about mine! 😩

When we moved into our Lewisham flat, we chose it for its oversized woodland garden. However, at the bottom of the slope sat an awkward circle of paving, dumped right in the main pathway.
💪 Determined to fix the flow, I decided to move it, only to hit a massive layer of solid clay and a high water table. Every drop of rain from the higher ground pooled right there, turning the space into a swamp.
Instead of fighting it, I embraced it and built a rain garden. 💦

I dug a sloping basin around a new paved walkway, lined it with fabric and layered it with gravel. Now, when heavy rain falls, the basin fills up, filters the water naturally, and slowly drains away.
Wildlife absolutely loves it. 🦊
I even framed the entrance with two salvaged pillars featuring 16th-century dolphins—and added a slightly naff, but fun, concrete frog for good measure!

What I thought was a gardening disaster became the very thing that made the space thrive.

Whether your outdoor space suffers from deep shade, heavy clay, or awkward slopes, those exact conditions are what will make it extraordinary. You do not need to fight against it —you just need to work with it.
I team up with homeowners across South East London to turn frustrating, tricky spaces into lush, unique retreats full of life.

Let’s discover what your garden is waiting to become. Drop me a message to start planning. 🌱

Using light to turn the garden into a living picture. 🌅Light is the quiet force that transforms a garden from a static s...
08/09/2026

Using light to turn the garden into a living picture. 🌅

Light is the quiet force that transforms a garden from a static space into a living experience.

When you position large glass doors facing your outdoor space, you are inviting the outside in. You frame your garden, and naturally, you want it to look beautiful.

When I designed my own space at home, I wanted the house to feel immersed in nature. Being outside is what I love, and I wanted to always feel connected with the garden.

Sunsets are my favourite. This is when the view comes alive, with sunlight filtering through translucent grasses to create a golden glow right across the room.

By intentionally placing plants to capture different light effects throughout the day, the garden becomes a dynamic play of brightness and silhouette that evolves constantly with the sun and the changing seasons.

If you are tired of looking out at a space that feels disconnected, impersonal, or just uninspiring, do get in touch and send me a DM. I look forward to turning your view into something wonderful.

04/09/2026

Different process, brilliant result. 🌿
I usually design schemes from the ground up, selecting every plant personally. But when a client needed help finishing a project due to health reasons, my role shifted from pure design to creative problem-solving.
She had already created a no-dig mini berm (reusing rubble on site) and bought a great mix of perennials. My job was to refine the layout, add complementary plants, and fix the only mismatch:
💡 Molinia grass prefers moist soil, so placing it atop a free-draining berm would have stressed the plant. Instead, we shifted it to the foot of the mound. It now thrives in the moisture at the base while creating a beautiful backdrop and screen for her raised beds.
Whether you need a full redesign or a planting expert to bring your existing ideas to life, I can make it happen.
📲 DM me to discuss your garden project.
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