Making A Difference - Garden Maintenance

13/08/2026

🌻📚Passed the RHS Level 2 Certificate in Practical Horticulture with 90% and a Distinction!

My last two exams were in June:

🌱PCA 2 tested our hands-on skills and involved a RHS examiner assessing us on 3 more practical tasks - this time it was turf laying, mowing a grassed area and potting off. We then had to identify a number of plants by their Latin names.

🌱The OCA was a multiple choice test with 80 questions testing our theoretical knowledge of horticulture.

It was such a worthwhile course and I’m so pleased I’ve done it!

28/07/2026

17/07/2026

🌻’MAD’ in New Marske

Really grateful to this client who allowed me to use his garden as a project in order to develop my border design/planting skills.

Plants include:
🌿Taxus baccata
🌿Pittosporum tennuisima ‘Golf Ball’
🪻Geranium Roxanne® (‘Gerwat’) (PBR)
🪻Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’
🪻Nepeta grandiflora ‘Summer Magic’
🌼Erigeron karvinskianus
🌾Stipa tenuissima

Looking forward to seeing how the border develops as the plants establish.

19/06/2026

🌻📚RHS Level 2 Certificate in Practical Horticulture complete!

Since September I’ve spent my Tuesdays in York with the most wholesome bunch of people learning all things horticulture!

Topics included:

🌿Plant Identification
🌿Plant Establishment
🌿Plant Propagation
🌿Plant Care
🌿Plant Pruning
🌿Garden Features
🌿Grassed Areas

Our lecturer (Abigail Linden) was so passionate, engaging and full to the brim of plant knowledge and so I’ve done my best to absorb as much as I can from her!

I will continue applying the best practice principles I have learned to your gardens ensuring they are maintained to the highest standard ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to all of my clients for your understanding and flexibility whilst I have been studying and taking my exams 🫶🏼

17/06/2026

🌻’MAD’ in Marske

I pruned these Lavandula angustifolias (English Lavender) last August and look how well they have bounced back!

Did you know that properly pruned Lavenders can live happily for 15-20 years?!

Pruning tips:

🌿Prune annually in late summer (August - September) immediately after flowering to allow new shoots to harden off before winter

✂️Remove spent flower spikes and cut back about 1/3 of the current years green growth

🌿Avoid cutting into old woody stems with no green growth

✂️Shape into a dome to help it shed rain/snow and protect the crown

Also remember that Lavenders prefer full sun and poor, well draining soil ☀️💦

30/05/2026

🌻’MAD’ in Saltburn

Lovely selections of plants from Longbeck Nurseries and The Wynd Fruitier to fill some pots ready for the summer.

I chose some annual bedding plants but also some perennials so that they can be used to fill gaps in the ground once their time in the containers is up! 🪴

14/05/2026

🌻🪴’MAD’ in Redcar

Out with the old and in with the Thriller(s), Filler and Spiller!

These pots are in a north facing location and so shade tolerant plants were selected.

🌺Thriller: Heuchera micrantha ‘Palace Purple’ and Fuschia Mariska
🌱Filler: Begonias x2
🌿Spiller: Chaenostoma cordatum 'Snowflake'

Plants from Longbeck Nurseries and Hills Plant Centre

10/05/2026

🌻’MAD’ in Redcar

Val is passionate about making her garden more wildlife friendly and so we are in the process of creating a barrel pond to attract plenty of creatures and critters! 🐸🪲🦅

As you can see this makes me very happy!

19/04/2026

📚🌻Record of courses attended

🌿1st April 2025:
Pruning Workshop led by Christina Fox at Apple Orchard Nursery

🌿16th September 2025 (ongoing):
RHS Level 2 Practical Horticulture at Askham-Bryan College in York

🌿4th February 2026:
Winter Tree Pruning Course led by Karen Greenwood and Jan Hoyland at Botton Village

10/04/2026

🌻’MAD’ in Marske

Did my best to restore this garden back to its former glory!

The client wanted some Japanese grass plants for the pots so they were planted up with Hakonechloa macra and Carex oshimensis 🌱

The Acer and Hostas from the pots were planted into the ground 🪏

The border was layered with cardboard and fresh compost to help keep the weeds at bay and nourish the soil ✔️