North Leeds Garden Design

03/03/2026

11/02/2026

20/12/2025

Looking for a last minute Christmas present, we have just the rose for you.
Sarah has written about roses for all spaces. Head to David Austin Roses to buy your favourite

Roses have long been celebrated as one of the most beautiful and fragrant flowers in the world. Their timeless appeal spans cultures and centuries,

18/12/2025

Season's Greetings to all our clients old and new! We will be closed from 2pm Friday 19th and re-opening on Tuesday 6th January. Best wishes for the New Year x

11/12/2025

This year we have seen a welcome move towards long-lived, robust, and resilient plants for our gardens. Coupled with the trend towards more naturalistic and less formal planting styles, at North Leeds Garden Design we are finding our clients are keen to hear what may work best for them for the future.​
In the UK we are already seeing climate change at work. While we can’t yet be certain what plants will cope best, here are some that I think are with us for the long term and are both beautiful and resilient.

1. Roses have deep taproots that enable them to find water, and with so many glorious modern varieties that flower for four months or even longer what's not to like! Favourites include ‘Crown Princess Margareta’ and ‘Claire Austin’.​

2. Salvias - so many beautiful sun-loving cultivars to choose from! While a few types are not fully hardy, most salvias are both drought-tolerant and long flowering and will stand up to cold winters provided they are planted into well drained soil -- as they dislike wet feet. Favourites include ‘Caradonna’ and ‘Amistad’.​

3. Hydrangeas will always be favourite shrubs of mine for a partly shaded spot. Once established they cope well with a range of conditions, and flower for months. If you let the flower heads stand over winter they make great habitat for overwintering insects. My favourites include the striking white pom-poms of ‘Strong Annabelle’ and pretty pink ‘Vanille Fraise'.​

4. Clematis - these beautiful flowering climbing plants, in a wide range of colours, need to be settled deeply into moist soil to get established. True, they won't thrive in sandy dry soil - but then there are other plants such as jasmines for those conditions. Try delicate 'Blue Dancer' for spring joy!​

5. Geums are traditional cottage garden favourites but also work really well in prairie-style and more naturalistic planting. Great for an early hot-colour display, newer cultivars thrive so well you will probably get a late summer display too. Once established they seem to do perfectly well without too much water. Favourites include the wonderful orange ‘Totally Tangerine.’​

07/12/2025

This month's blog covers lighting for gardens and balconies- which is your favourite?
Read more here https://northleedsgardendesign.co.uk/lighting-in-the-garden/

03/12/2025

We would like to say a big thank you to our suppliers this year for helping us create beautiful gardens for our clients. Here's to more collaboration in the future!

01/12/2025

At North Leeds Garden Design we offer a great, award-winning garden design service across Yorkshire. We pride ourselves on giving every client the same high level of customer service.
You can find out more about the services we offer on our website https://northleedsgardendesign.co.uk/our-services/ and fill in our Garden Questionnaire.

25/11/2025

After the frenzy of seasonal planting has passed, this quieter time of year brings more opportunities to reflect on how our previous year's planting has grown. We'll be highlighting our favourite design details on here this winter, beginning with how we have used grasses to create sway and movement.

23/11/2025

At North Leeds Garden Design we develop bespoke designs for clients with a huge variety of different gardens – from small town courtyards to large country gardens. ​
One of the most important elements in your garden are the trees – giving stature, character and balance to the garden, as well as helping combat climate change. ​
Many garden spaces suit only a relatively small tree; probably not taller than 7m, and ideally with a canopy that doesn't spread too much. Here are some of my current favourites.

1. Amelanchier 'Robin Hill' - with their pretty spring blossom and colourful autumn leaves, amelanchiers are always good value. Some are very large in maturity; not so 'Robin Hill' which is a lovely upright tree to 7m. For a really small tree, go for amelanchier 'Obelisk' as this only gets to about 4m and is very narrow.​

2. Betula jacquemontii - a deservedly popular silver birch with elegant shapeliness. While many cultivars make quite tall trees, examples such as 'Trinity College' are much smaller, only reaching about 6m. Plant singly, or create a little grove beneath which a huge variety of flowering plants can enjoy the light shade cast by its delicate branches.​

3. Sorbus vilmorinii - grows to about 5m, with white spring blossom and these charming pink berries in autumn. It's also tolerant of a wide range of conditions. ​

4. Malus 'Evereste' - there are a lot of lovely crabapples for the garden and many have ornamental fruits that hang on the tree like baubles in early winter. I particularly like this one as the spring blossom is simply gorgeous, and although it does get to 8m in time, it stays fairly conical. ​

5. Pyrus 'Chanticleer' - an all-time favourite as again this has lovely spring blossom and gorgeous autumn tints. It reaches 7-8m but always stays a narrow tree.

14/11/2025

An honour to have been a finalist for the Northern Design Awards 2025. Congratulations to for their gorgeous work!
And a special thank you to for their excellent building work on our Adel garden.