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.

Steph and Anth were really excited about having their garden landscaped. They both had some great ideas. It was fun to work with them. They wanted us to create a landscape with a difference, something interesting to look at, different from the usual patios or lawns you might see in peoples' gardens. After many chats we decided to lay their patio using sawn purest one sandstone. This is extremely beautiful natural sandstone, it has lustres of pink, peach, cream, browns and light yellow tones running through it, each stone is different to the last. This patio stone has a very romantic look to it; it's soft on the eye.

Steph and Anth asked us to create a romantic garden patio for them. They wanted somewhere to dine together on the summer evenings. They also wanted to access their patio area through a wooden rose covered archway. They even requested a heart shaped retaining wall.

We decided while designing their garden wall to echo the wall shape with the newly turfed lawn, hence the heart shaped lawn.

The retaining walls were constructed in a soft curved 'V' shape - like a love heart - how romantic and in keeping with what Steph and Anth wanted. This heart shaped raised bed has now become a colourful purple heather garden - it's stunning!

A rustic wooden archway was embedded at the edge of the patio. The patio is entered via the wooden archway. Steph is growing a beautiful deep pink climbing rose up and around the wooden archway frame. When the rose is fully established this will be an outstanding feature of their garden.

We added a twist to their patio with a cobbled antique cobble edge. This gives the patio a more graceful feel. We used the same cobbles around the edge of the turf, see how this defines the curvaceous shape of the lawn and ties in the heart theme for Steph and Anth.

We chose Southern gold gravel to lay around the patio to create texture, colour and a definitive heart shape. The gravel perfectly compliments the beautiful sandstone and the newly landscaped garden.

This was a fabulous landscaping project to carry out. Steph and Anth were really interesting, fun people to work with. We really enjoyed the design element of this landscaping project. I'm sure you'll agree it looks beautiful in reality too!

Testimonial

“To Andy, We would like to say thank you for the wonderful work you have accomplished in our garden.
Your ideas were inspiring and produced a garden we could only imagine.
We were always kept informed of every stage and asked approval of all ventures.
We can not wait till spring to enjoy our beautiful secret garden. It's beautiful!
Thank you from both of us "

Steph and Anth Wardell

Dunedin Avenue, Fairfield, Stockton on Tees, 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.