This landscaping project is a real favourite of ours.

We got a call from Alan and Jan asking us to give them some ideas about what they could do with their eye sore of a garden. It was a new build house in Norton, Stockton on Tees, Cleveland. Their existing rear garden which consisted of mainly mud and not much else.

They had a few paving stones along the back of the house, but wanted the whole area to be modern and useable, with turf, patios, raised beds for planting and some new close board fencing.

There's nothing like a blank canvas to fire up the imagination!

The landscape of the garden had a downward slope which made it ideal for a split level patio and because of the split level we were able to encorporate a long raised flower bed, at the end of which we put steps down to the lower level patio. Which would also be where the new turf would be laid for the lawn.

We carried out a brick match for the raised flower bed and then sat with Alan and Jan to make a choice for the paving stones. They went with Sunrise sandstone.

We then put in the wall foundations for the raised flower bed, then built the wall up to the height required and finished it off with a Sunrise sandstone coping stone. This now gave us our split level garden to design and landscape.

We then put a stretch of close board fencing along the left hand side of the property as a boundry partition.

The next step was to build up the bases for the lower patio and newly turfed lawn area and level them off, ready for paving stones and turf respectively. We then laid the lower patio and cut a long, sweeping arc out of the left hand side, almost in a horse shoe shape. This meant that the turf could be built in to the patio and give an oval shape to the lawn. We put a double cobbled edge around the turf just to give it a funky finish. We left a border at the other side of the turf and planted a Cox's Orange Pippin apple tree and a purple flowering lilac bush.

We then started on the top patio using the same Sunrise sandstone paving stones. This was a standard rectangular patio which was far more straight forward to lay than the lower patio. We decided to finished the patio edge against the wall off with a row of cobbles and a gravel strip using York Gold gravel.

The photos will give you a better idea of the work, so take a peek!

Testimonial

"The job looks fantastic Andy, we're really happy. It looks a world away from when you first started the job. We've passed your card on to a friend. Cheers to you and your lads for all your fantastic work!"

Alan Heatherington

Norton, Stockton on Tees, Cleveland, Teesside.

This is a commercial landscaped garden project undertaken at Aspen Gardens - A residential care home in Stockton on Tees, Cleveland, Teesside.

Charis Gracey, the centre manager chose Green Onion Landscaping to carry out the landscaping project from a list of contractors who had given in tenders and  quotations.

Me and the team were honored to carry out this landscaping project and had really hoped we would be given the opportunity to help improve the residents daily lives. We know how important it is for elderly people to feel independent. We had chatted with several of the residents when we had visited the site to cost the job. They were really eager to have their new garden with raised flower beds and an area they could sit and chatter in the summer.

During our consultation, Charis explained that the residents would like a large paved patio to sit on, on the warm Summer days. They wanted somewhere outside where they could gather and chatter as well as admire their own planted flowers and tend to the vegetables they planned on growing.

Some of the elderly residents used to be keen gardeners, they were excited at the prospect of having the opportunity to have green fingers again.

They needed a low maintenance garden area where they would be able to grow vegetables and flowers. They were really enthusiastic about being able to keep their independence by doing some gardening in the place where they live. We decided that three raised beds would be built. These could be used for plants and vegetables.

The patio area was built directly off an existing paved area using the same paving stones - Buff Saxon- which are a yellow paving stone. The raised flower and vegetable beds had to be positioned in such a way that the residents could access them on all sides with wheel chairs and walking frames - raised beds are excellent for elderly or disabled people - there is no need for them to bend to reach the flowers or vegetables.

We built the raised beds at a height which allowed the wheelchair users of Aspen Gardens to work at them comfortably when planting or tending to the vegetables and flowers in the raised beds.

We edged the patio area with curved topped buff pin kerbs to give it a neat professional finished look. The pin kerbs also prevent wheelchair users from rolling off the sides of the patio in their chairs. Small gaps were left intermittently in the pin kerbs to allow for drainage. The raised beds were filled with top soil and compost ready for the residents to begin planting.

We also layed a new lush green turf for the residents, this extended right around the newly laid patio area and looked beautiful and green, it perfectly completed the landscape for them.

This landscaping job appeared in the Stockton News magazine. A copy of the article can be read in the News section of our website. We were delighted with the end result of this job and it was an absolute pleasure seeing the faces of the residents when it was officially opened for them. We were chuffed to bit for them. They were all so pleased to have an area where they would be able to do some gardening work of their own.

Testimonial

“The tenants are really enthusiastic about the project and they can’t wait to the planting started. We have a number of keen gardeners living here and this is a fabulous opportunity for them to continue a hobby they enjoy and we are sure the garden will bring pleasure to all our tenants now and in the future. The flower beds and patio look really fantastic. Thank you Andy and your team for your wonderful work.”

Charis Gracie - Services and Facilities Manager

Aspen Gardens, Stockton on Tees, Cleveland, Teesside.

This landscaping job was planned,designed and constructed for a lady called Maureen. Maureen was unsure of what type of patio she wanted. We discussed and showed her various examples of our previous work. We decided on a circular two ring patio. Maureen's circular patio was built from buff york stone, the path is also buff yorkstone. The area around the patio was gravelled and a new turf lawn laid. The circular patio has been created using Buff York Stone too.

Buff York Stone is ideal for a patio, it has a great colour and texture.The path leading to the patio has been creatively crafted in an offset manner also from buff york stone. The cobble stone along the edge of the patio, beautifully enhances the curve of the path and leads the eye naturally to the circular patio.

Southern gold gravel has been carefully selected to fill in the gaps between the patio stones both on the path and the circular patio, see how it lifts the path and patio form and shape. The Southern gold gravel lifts and enhances the path and patio stone delicately but perfectly.The gravel in the background of this particular circular patio is dark grey pea gravel, again this enhances the curve of the circular patio.

Testimonial

" Dear Andy, I would like to thank you for the wonderful work you did at my house. I love my new patio and lawn. My friends love coming round and admiring my garden while drinking several glasses of wine. It's so relaxing. I can unwind after work now in my garden, which is great. I was really impressed with how neat and tidy you all were. I would never have known you were here apart from my new patio and lawn of course. Thanks again. Kind Regards, "

Maureen Patterson

Marton, Middlebrough, Cleveland, Teesside.

This was a quite a large landscaping job. It involved a lot of landscaping design, planning and construction. Andy and Ali also wanted us to help them accessorise the completed landscape with pots and hanging flower baskets.

Andy is a very keen gardener and has a great knowledge of flowers and plants. We really enjoyed working with him on this landscaping project. We bounced lots of ideas off each other throughout the process. He was equally as enthusiastic as we came up with some stunning ideas.

After carrying out a brick match with the property, we built a new wall around the front of the propery with pillars linked by wrought iron railings. We had the railings and the gates made by a local iron monger, they were stunning quality. The new railings were built into the brick wall.

We constructed larger brick pillars on either side of the block paved driveway entrance. These were to hang their new wrought iron gates on. Andy and Ali's house is an end house. We felt it was a better idea to have more secure gates for their property. Also large iron gates give a grand and more private feel to any property.

We block paved the path around the whole of the property using brindle block paving with a flowing charcoal block paved edge. The block paved areas were laid in a 90 degree herring bone pattern, which is a traditional block paving pattern.The large driveway was also block paved using the same herring bone design in the same colour paving blocks as the paths.

We shaped the block paving at the front of the property to incorporate a flowing curve, which allowed me to give the front lawn a more interesting shape when we laid the new lawn turf.

Square turf lawns always look dull and sterile. We would always recommend giving curvaceous shape to newly laid turf where possible, it is more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. New turf was laid at the side and rear of the property too.

We constructed a connecting decking area from the block paved driveway to the rear garden. This decking incorporated handrails and steps. This broke up the hard feel of the block paving and gave a more interesting look and feel to the overall design of the landscaped garden. The decking area also stood out as a feature of the newly designed and landscaped garden.

We designed various feature areas for Andy's plants and pots. We supplied Andy and Ali with a variation of my beautiful and bespoke pots for their garden. We have a wonderful selection of pots and garden accessories. They were spoilt for choice.

We fixed brackets for hanging baskets on the outer walls in various places around the property. We also built  several small feature areas in the front lawn for bedding plants and shrubs to help make the garden come alive.

When this landscaping project was completed even we were astounded. It was a total transformation of their previous garden. It looked stunning. We regularly pop past Andy and Ali's as they change their flower displays each season and really it is a superb example of how a garden can look if landscaped by a professional who knows what they are doing. I am very proud of this landscaping job and was delighted to hear it had won the garden competition they had entered.

Testimonial

Dear Andy,

My husband and I wanted to thank you and your team at Green Onion landscaping for doing a fantastic job of our block paved drive, lawn,decking, garden pots and baskets.

We absolutely love it. We can’t believe how different and beautiful it all looks. You and your team worked closely with us every step of the way and we appreciate that.

Since the job was completed, our garden looked so impressive we were actually entered into a local best garden competition and we won!

Thank you once again for all your time and commitment.

Yours sincerely,

Mr and Mrs A. Portious.

Mitford Cresent, Bishopsgarth, Stockton on Tees, Cleveland, Teesside.