I’ve returned to the UK and I’m not in my mother’s good books… “I can’t believe I married a nurseryman and have a daughter who’s a garden designer and my garden STILL looks awful!”… Oops, guess it’s about time I looked at that border I said I’d fix about 2 years ago! It’s because I’ve […]
About Rachel Mathews
Professional international garden designer for over 20 years. My mission is to de-mystify garden design and make it easy for people to successfully design their own garden - without needing to spend a fortune!
Successful Garden Design Tips 6 – Disguising an ugly wall
This week’s SGD tips video is in answer to a question we received from Tatiana – if you have a question for a future video, please leave it in the comments below… And if you’d like to go directly to tonight’s Fast Track Garden Design Web Class for WIDE, SQUARE & AWKWARD shape gardens, go […]
[DESIGN SHOW 20] – Courtyard gardens & English cottage style
![[DESIGN SHOW 20] – Courtyard gardens & English cottage style](https://i2.wp.com/www.successfulgardendesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/DESIGNSHOW20cov.jpg?fit=610%2C343&ssl=1)
In this episode Rachel gives us a guided tour of how the Spanish courtyard garden looks 7 years after it was first featured on Successful Garden Design as well as visits a tiny courtyard garden to help the owner give it a much needed makeover. And we feature a tiny little Andalusian courtyard garden in […]
Successful Garden Design Tips – dividing space in an awkward shape garden
In this week’s Successful Garden Design Tips video we look at how you can tackle an awkward shape garden that tapers with a great little designer trick – dividing the space to add the wow factor! Learn more, attend one of our FREE Fast Track Garden Design online classes… Register on this page: https://www.successfulgardendesign.com/freeclasses/
Successful Garden Design Tips 4 – Patio Makeover part2
Here’s how the tiny Moroccan inspired courtyard garden turned out! The first part showing the BEFORE can be seen here: Attend one of our FREE Fast Track Garden Design online classes and learn how to design your garden… Register on this page: https://www.successfulgardendesign.com/freeclasses/
Successful Garden Design Tips 3 – Tiny patio makeover part 1
In this Successful Garden Design Tips video Rachel offers advice on how to give a tiny Moroccan inspired courtyard makeover. She’ll be back in PART 2 so you can see how it all turned out here: https://www.successfulgardendesign.com/sgdtips4-patio-makeover-part2/ Learn how to design your garden – Attend one of our FREE Fast Track Garden Design online classes… Register […]
Sam’s stunning garden – update
We featured Sam’s garden last year. To refresh your memory, here’s what she started out with… Sam says “I completed Rachel’s Great Garden Design Formula during the winter of 2015-16 and spent every minute of every waking hour imagining what my completed garden could look like. I got the chance to build it in spring 2016 […]
Successful Garden Design Tips 2 – How to use colour in the garden effectively…
In this week’s Successful Garden Design Tips video, Rachel walks you through how to combine colours in the right way to add the wow factor to your garden! BUT do be warned, colour alone will NOT give you a stunning garden – you have to get the design layout right first. If you don’t know […]
Successful Garden Design Tips – Video 1 – Line it up!
Adding the wow factor to your garden with a very simple but often overlooked designer trick… To download the free cheat sheet that comes with this video go to: https://www.successfulgardendesign.com/wow/ In this quick Successful Garden Design Tips video Rachel walks you through a simple designer trick of lining up elements within the garden that make […]
[DESIGN SHOW 19] – Mediterranean garden tour & adding the WOW with colour
![[DESIGN SHOW 19] – Mediterranean garden tour & adding the WOW with colour](https://i1.wp.com/www.successfulgardendesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/DESIGNSHOW19cov.jpg?fit=610%2C343&ssl=1)
Download the WOW factor garden cheat sheet from: https://www.successfulgardendesign.com/wow/ Details of William and Robert’s fantastic mountain Med garden can be found here: https://www.jardinalpujarra.com/the-garden/ If you’d like to volunteer to help in the garden, details of how to do that are here: https://www.jardinalpujarra.com/the-garden/membership-and-volunteering/ And if you’d like to stay at their lodging, details here: http://www.cortijoopazo.com Here’s […]
Small Front Garden – SGD Student Anne Fries, Melbourne
I always love it when people send in photos of their gardens after doing one of our garden design courses. This garden is no exception… With NO previous design experience, Anne and her husband have done a tremendous job transforming their boring front yard into a beautiful garden… I’ll now pass you over to Anne […]
Chelsea Flower Show 2017 – Ideas for your garden
The Chelsea Flower Show, for those of you outside the UK, is the highlight of the gardening calendar. Designers from all over the world want their gardens to win a gold medal or better still ‘best in show’. I won’t go though… I will admit to having a bit of a love / hate relationship […]
Long, narrow, awkward side yard garden makeover – Case study
When it comes to garden design, some gardens are definitely more challenging than others. A particularly tricky one is the long narrow side garden, which often ends up as a junkyard. It’s not really large enough to do anything with, that’s the problem. Well actually, with a few cunning design tricks, you can turn that […]
Plant Selection – Magic in May
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May is my favourite month of the whole year in the UK. Mostly, because it’s the start of some great flowers appearing and all the signs are there that summer is on its way… May Plant Selection Here are some of my favourite planting combinations for this time of year. They can be used as an add on […]
Plant Selection – Amazing in April
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Finally, spring is actually with us (albeit for brief and teasing snatches here in the UK). It means our plant choices are getting more varied. So following on from March’s subtle planting scheme that wouldn’t clash with all the spring flowering bulbs, this month’s garden plant selection has brighter colours but will still compliment all […]
Modern, awkward shape garden design – Wolfgang’s garden
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I’m very pleased to be featuring Wolfgang’s garden in this week’s SGD Student Hall of Fame. Wolfgang lives in Germany and this is the garden he had to contend with once the house was completed! Yikes! What to do with a garden like this? Firstly: LEARN ABOUT GARDEN DESIGN (if you’re going to DIY). The […]
Front garden design makeover – Case study
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Front gardens can be difficult to get right because often as not, they have to be functional, to accommodate the car and driveway or utility area for bins. Just because a driveway is there, it doesn’t mean to say that the area should not be treated as a garden and be made to look beautiful. […]
Changing a ‘nice enough’ garden that isn’t nice enough!
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A few years back, a friend of mine asked me to redesign the garden of a house she’d just bought. I was happy to help as I could see there was lots of room for improvement. Her family were all keen gardeners, and by the look on their faces, they were somewhat aghast at her […]
Wide Garden Design – Howard’s Garden Update
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Normally, the SGD Student Hall of Fame is for gardens designed by you – on this occasion I’m slightly breaking it as I designed this one, live, in the Wide Garden Workshop we did in Oct 2015… The reason I’m including it is because the owner, Howard built the garden, with no previous experience as […]
Cool Christmas Gifts for Garden Lovers!
Do you hate Christmas shopping as much as I do? I doubt that’s possible but just incase you do we’ve made your life a little bit easier with some fab selections for the design conscious gardener (oh and there’s some fun ones as well) We’ll start with the fun ones! Garden Games from Greenfingers. Easy […]
