Expert planting design and plant selection advice from the Flourish Landscaping team.
We share what we have learned from planting gardens across Kingston, Surbiton, Richmond and the wider Surrey area. Practical advice on plant selection, border composition, soil and aspect, and how to put together a scheme that holds its interest through every season, written by horticulturalists with decades of hands-on experience.
For project work, see our planting design and installation service. Before choosing plants, use the Flourish Sun Planner to map sun and shade across your garden, then read our garden orientation guide to understand how aspect shapes what will actually thrive.
Most disappointing shade plantings are not failures of plant choice but failures of shade assessment. The difference between partial shade beneath deciduous trees and deep shade against a north-facing wall is larger than the difference between partial shade and full sun.
Multi-stem trees Structure, beauty and year-round interest in the garden Multi-stem trees are one of the most elegant planting choices you can introduce into a garden. They combine sculptural beauty, seasonal interest, wildlife value and practical design benefits, all without dominating the space. At Flourish Landscaping we use multi-stem trees regularly in planting schemes across…
Refreshing a garden with new planting How to transform a long suburban garden without rebuilding everything. Many gardens already have a layout that works reasonably well. The patio sits outside the house, there is a stretch of lawn through the middle, and somewhere towards the end of the garden there is often a shed, trampoline…
Ornamental grasses for Surrey gardens Movement, structure and winter interest, on London Clay. Ornamental grasses do things no other group of plants can do quite as well. They move. They catch light in ways that change through the day and through the season. They carry structure into the months when everything else has retreated. And…
Spring planting What to plant in spring for the best summer displays. Spring is the most consequential moment in the gardening year. The choices made between late February and mid-May set the tone for everything that follows. Soil is finally workable, daylight lengthens by several minutes each day, and root growth races ahead of leaf…
Dahlias for late summer colour A practical UK guide to choosing, planting and growing dahlias for a garden that peaks from August to first frost. Dahlia is the plant that carries a UK garden from late July through to the first hard frost, often into November. While the early summer perennials are going over and…
Pleached trees A stylish way to add privacy and structure to your garden. Pleached trees are one of the smartest ways to bring height, structure and privacy into a domestic garden. A clear trunk underneath, a flat green panel above, and a planting solution that solves the overlooking-window problem without boxing the space in. They…
Summer flowering plants Plants that will give you colour all summer long. A garden that flowers all summer doesn’t happen by accident. It is built from layered planting that succeeds in waves from June to October, mixing perennials with annuals, climbers with shrubs, and structural foliage with flowers. This guide sets out the plants that…
Autumn bulb planting Why autumn is the most important time of year for next spring’s garden. The bulbs you plant between late September and early December decide what your garden looks like from January through May. Get the timing, depth and selection right and you have continuous spring colour from the first snowdrops to the…
Roses for London gardens: best varieties for clay soil, front gardens and walls The varieties we trust on heavy clay and through real Surrey summers, with practical planting and pruning advice. Roses have a reputation for being temperamental. In reality, the right variety in the right place is one of the most generous, long-lived plants…
Eco-friendly alternatives to traditional bedding plants Sustainable planting choices that bring colour, support wildlife and last for years. The traditional summer bedding scheme — trays of petunias, busy Lizzies and begonias bought from the garden centre each May, watered daily through July and August, composted at the first frost — has been the British garden…
Refreshing your borders: a naturalistic planting approach A contemporary planting approach for Kingston and Surbiton gardens that delivers structure, colour and wildlife value all year round. Homeowners across Kingston, Surbiton and the wider Surrey area often come to us with the same picture: borders gradually taken over by vigorous plants — Buddleja davidii, cherry laurel,…
Autumn and winter pot planting ideas for every space Four refined planting combinations for patios, courtyards and balconies — disciplined, structural and full of colour from October through to May. When the days shorten and the garden starts to fade, well-designed pots carry the show. Autumn and winter are the right seasons to plant containers…
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Based in Kingston and Surbiton, we work within a five–mile radius — covering a focused patch of South West London and North Surrey.
Explore practical advice, planting guides and design ideas from our team.
