Melanie Jackson Garden Consultant

05/01/2026

A typical front garden, with a straight concrete path and rectangular lawn. The client wanted something beautiful to welcome them and their visitors but also attract pollinators. I designed a curved sweeping path and wide borders, filled with insect friendly planting providing height, scent and colour.

03/01/2026

A typical front garden with a straight path and rectangular lawn. My client wished to have something more welcoming and brimming with wildlife.
I created a sweeping curved path flanked with wide borders. These were planted with a few small trees and shrubs to give structure, but mostly perennials and grasses that knit together creating a garden full of life and interest.

02/01/2026

The location was a simple area of lawn high in my clients garden, with the most magnificient views. They wanted to create a natural swimming pool surrounding by wildlife freindly planting. I was given the position of the pool, so I set about deisgning the garden to create a magical, relaxing space abundant with bees and insects, but mindful of the need to feel enclosed whilst swimming and keeping the views open to the countryside.

10/02/2022

This garden and house had undergone huge development which was still in progress when the photos were taken. Parts of the planting we did in 2020, so by the time the garden building works were nearing completion , the new beds were thriving.
This is the front of house formal planting scheme.
There will be more to see this summer!

10/02/2022

Another garden built through the pandemic.
Here the family garden was unused because the patio and planting were in the wrong place. By switching part of the lawn to paving where it catches the sun and bringing the planting closer to the house and surrounding the new patio, the garden became a welcoming outdoor room. The new garden office now had an attractive view and the family felt connected to their garden .

10/02/2022

Yet again, a few more years have gone by, but these have been very creative times, so there is a lot to share.
Tucked away in a corner of the Georgian area of Bath, this small courtyard garden was very ready for a facelift. After much consideration the owners opted for a traditional, circular design that focused on bringing wildlife in to the built up surroundings. We used stone found on site and hoggin for the paths. The raised beds gave more depth of soil and an edge to sit next to the wildlife pond. Planting with pastel shades and plenty of open flowers to attract bees, butterflies, hover flies etc , this garden quickly became a destination for the local birds too. With the addition of a small summer house, the garden and its wildlife can now be appreciated all through the year

15/01/2020

I thought it might be time to add another garden.
This time a small courtyard space that had become tired and in need of a re vamp. The astro turf and paving had begun to crumble and it appeared dark and unfriendly. With some new paving ,a smaller shed, wider borders and many more plants, this little space became a lot more inviting .

08/05/2019

A family garden 2019, created from a rather uneven lawn and crumbling terrace. The house has been re furbished and so have the gardens, both front and back! The client wanted a contemporary look , with straight lines and large lawn for kids to play
The design opened up and leveled the space to create a super family back garden all freshly planted a few weeks ago.More pictures to follow in a few months...

02/12/2016

Garden within a garden
I was called to help make an open square space in a large new garden a bit more interesting. The only feature we had to work with was a stepping stone path that cut diagonally across the lawn.
They liked the idea of a formal garden and had already bought plants to make a low hedge. I decided to create a soft herbaceous planting scheme alongside the path so that it would be easily seen en route to other parts of the garden. At the centre would be an ornamental tree to provide height and the bed would be surrounded by a hedge forming two sides of a square.
Fortunately the soil beneath the lawn was excellent, so with just a few hours of turf stripping and digging the bed was ready to plant up.It' amazing what can be done in a day ( with a lot of hard work and willing hands).
And now , a couple of years on...

31/10/2016

Cottage garden in need of help
This garden had been poorly maintained, and as a result, the series of curved beds had been invaded by couch grass. Fortunately, some evergreen shrubs and a basic palette of plants survived, and uncovered (after an enormous amount of weeding digging). Following several seasons of manuring, more weeding and planting, the garden is now abundant with flowers and wildlife and a pleasure to be in.

29/09/2016

After a few years busy designing, digging and planting, I thought it was about time I updated my page I will start with a garden I made last year.

More than just somewhere to park the car.

This was once a mature front garden, but the pressures of parking and a complete house renovation, meant that the majority of the space was taken over as cobbled drive.
My clients were keen to make the most of what they had left and create a really attractive garden to replenish what was removed and mitigate against the impact of the new large area of hard surface.Fortunately two impressive Portuguese laurels remained, and these were pruned and canopies lifted to create an attractive umbrella shape.
The design. We decided on an evergreen structure of box hedging in a formal design, planted with a mixture of shrubs and perennials in an informal country style attractive to insects. We also chose a limited colour palette of green, white, silver burgundy and purple.Using metal edgings enabled us to created curved corners to soften the geometric layout. The gravel paths contrasted well with cobbles and added a porous surface rather than paving which would contribute to more runoff from the drive.

14/01/2013