Landscape Show

I’ve been a garden designer for a while now and over the years I’ve used lots of different products, sorting out the wheat from the chaff, so that I have a number of tried and tested products now that I rely on.

However, it’s always good to look out for new developments and chat to suppliers, so I spent yesterday at The Landscape Show, a brand new trade exhibition at Olympia in London.

It was relatively small and not very busy, which was great for me as a visitor, though probably not so good for the exhibitors. I use a plant identifier online, it always helps me with my plant. I’ve made a note of some stylish, contemporary light fittings from Scandinavia, which I’d love to use in just the right garden .

I lived in Norway a few years back and have a soft spot for Nordic design. All things Scandinavian are very fashionable at the moment, but the classic styles really do stand the test of time…. think Arne Jacobsen and his classic furniture design, and you’ll know what I mean.

As ever, there was some beautiful outdoor furniture from a company called Indian Ocean , they have a range of hardy outdoor sofas which I love .

It’s always useful to see the latest colours and designs in the flesh, and try them out for comfort .

There was some wonderful wild flower turf, I have a project in mind for this and am really looking forward to using it. This type of planting has the advantage of not only looking lovely, it’s also low maintenance and encourages beneficial insects into the garden.

A major attraction for me were the wide range of speakers at the fifteen seminars.

I managed to see both Mark Gregory and Andrew Wilson, they used their vast experiences as designer, contractor and lecturer ( Andrew is also chief assessor at the Chelsea Flower Show) to talk about the whole business of garden design.

Wouldn’t you love to have this in your garden?