The first and of course, the most important one is that since last Wednesday I am officially employed again and working with a former student of the OCGD. Being now one the most well-known and recognized garden designers in London, Charlotte Rowe has offered me the opportunity to work at her practice for 2 days a week but with the real possibility to increase these to 3 or 4 days a week once the new 2011 arrives.

I can not deny this is a very good way to push myself into the garden design business, as that will add more design experience to my “construction & management” knowledge and at the same time, will give me some more time during the week to work on my own projects. First week was good, starting a design for a new roof terrace and preparing some SketchUp views to show to the client this week but obviously, more to come once I settle myself into this role.

And talking about my own projects, the evolution of the works at the Fulham Community Garden on Fulham Palace Road has good pace. Some more volunteers came last Wednesday and kept going with the clearance of old greenery, digging all roots over and leaving the area almost ready to apply new compost and manure next week. Yes, and that is more good news, we have got already fundings for the purchase of all the compost plus half of the plants needed, thanks to a couple of businesses nearby and some other individuals (either living or working in the area) that have given funds towards the project. Still a little bit more to raise though so again, if you feel you would like to help, please contact me through a comment on this post.

Finally and as a result of the evolution of my garden design business, I am starting a new blog in Blogger where I will keep writing about my experiences, thoughts and everything else as I have been doing until now. Please keep visiting and subscribing to it as you have been doing with this one, I promise you will find it at least interesting, if not useful.

Thank you WordPress for this year and few months. It’s been a great time!!

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a local developer with the idea (maybe a little unrealistic one) of improving the look of a quite devastated piece of land which he thought could have a much better use for the whole community. The area itself, opposite to Fulham Palace Garden Centre, has been left without maintenance or care for several years now so everything in there is overgrown, full of weeds and in really bad conditions, something that promotes the place to be seen completely unattractive and unsafe when it gets dark as well.

After a couple of meetings to better know how the Project was going to be managed I decided to put my hands on it as much as possible, as the main idea was contacting volunteer people to help with the labour while trying to collect money through donations from shops and businesses nearby to supply plants and other materials needed.

The first point though is to improve the general look of the place, clearing all the creepers growing on the external fences to then chop down most of the overgrown and old shrubs, as the only thing they are doing at the moment is to completely hide the views of the garden from the streets plus shading almost all the area. And that is exactly what the first group of volunteers have been doing today, with the help of the Community Payback Scheme from the Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham and some other anonymous volunteers. Here you can see a couple of pictures taken during the day but tomorrow I will tweet some more so you can really see the difference.

Works will continue every Wednesday morning for the next 2 to 3 weeks, so the area can be cleared of roots, tree suckers and rubbish for then, condition and improve the existing soil with the addition of some new manure, compost and fertilizer. But where do we want to get with all this? Well, here is where I come into action, as I have prepared a small but interesting design to plant up an area of 65 m² approx. which we are all expecting improves the general perception of this garden and therefore, its use by all the people living in the area and surroundings.

The problem as you can all imagine is the money, as the funds at the moment do not allow to even buy the first complete lot of manure/compost. As previously said, we are in talks with shops and businesses in the area, will have a meeting tomorrow with The Fairbridge Garden Society and the closest neighbours seem really interested but at the moment, that is all we have got. So if you feel having an idea to help or want to donate towards the purchase of plants, please feel free to contact me through this blog or e-mail me instead. Any help is welcome!

Mixed with shrubs and bulbs or even just a combination of them, they bring real colour, depth and focal points throughout the year quickly and easily. But before buying planting will be useful to plan which plants we are going to use, thinking on different heights and flowering times to create real interest in the garden.

Most herbaceous perennials are available all year round wether in spring as tiny plants or in summer often as bigger and already flowering plants. As has been said in previous posts is better to buy a number of the same plants to be used in groups (approximately from 3 to 7 depending on the size of your garden). Here some suggestions (thanks to the people from Shoot for some of the information):

- Aster nova-angliae: An upright bushy perennial with rough, dark-green, lance-shaped leaves. From late-summer to autumn, it bears sprays of purple daisy-like flowers with yellow centres.

- Euphorbia griffithii “Dixter”: A spreading, rhizomatous perennial with erect stems bearing narrow, red-flushed, dark green leaves and terminal clusters of bright, orange-red flowers in summer.

- Hemerocallis “Sammy Russell”: Narrow, mid-green leaves and dark red flowers with yellow-orange throats from midsummer to early autumn.

- Heuchera “Marmalade”: Semi-evergreen to evergreen perennial with red stems bearing rounded, lobed, leaves that emerge copper-red or pink and turn bronze. Small, bell-shaped, red-brown flowers in summer.

- Hosta sieboldiana var. elegans: Large, rounded, heart-shaped, grey-blue leaves and spikes of lilac-tinged, trumpet-shaped, white flowers in late summer.

- Kniphofia “Royal Standard”: Linear, grass-like, dark green leaves and, in summer, upright, stout stems bearing dense spikes of tubular, bright yellow flowers opening from scarlet buds.

- Paeonia mlokosewitschii: Dusky-pink leaves uncurling to blue-green in ealry spring followed by bowl shaped single yellow flowers in late spring.

- Sedum “Autumn Joy”: One of the finest of all Sedums. The flower heads are pink and change to a rosy red in autumn and contrasting with its green foliage.

Once you have got your plants selected, follow the easy steps recommended on the previous post for the planting stage, so the chances of succeeding with your plants increase.

With this post I pretend to start a series of them related with plants, from perennials to climbers, trees, etc. giving some advice and suggestions that might be useful for both, gardens already built with some maintenance/improvement needs or ones that are going to be designed, so these tips can be used as a helpful guide.

To create structure and shape in the garden shrubs are a the first plants you should think of, as these provide foliage, flowers, fragance and fruit so with careful planning you can have all-year round interest. Shrubs can be planted at any time as long as the soil is not too wet or frozen. Once you have decided which plants are going to be used think of the principles of Design, that is Continuity, Unity and Rhythm so there is a link and a feeling of balance among all the plants.

Before planting and as a general rule of thumb, clear the area of weeds and dig a hole twice the size of the pot, adding some slow-release fertilizer to improve the growth during the season. Once the shrub is planted water well and keep watering more than usual for the next few weeks until established. If you are planting in a dry spot, make a slight depression around the plant to ensure water gets into the soil and roots.

Some suggestions depending on the final placement or use of these shrubs could be:

- Autumn foliage & fruit: Acer palmatum “Osakazuki” (Japanese maple), Amelanchier lamarckii (Snowy mespilus), Chaenomeles x superba “Crimson & Gold”, Cotinus coggygria “Royal Purple” (Smokewood), Pyracantha “Saphyr Orange” (Firethorn), Spiraea japonica “Goldflame”, Viburnum opulus “Compactum”.

- Ground cover: Ceanothus tyrsiflorus var. repens, Cotoneaster dammeri, Hebe “Emerald Gem”, Pachysandra terminalis “Green Carpet”, Vinca major.

- Flowers & fragance: Buddleja davidii “Peacock” (butterfly bush), Choisya ternata (Mexican orange blossom), Daphne mezereum, Elaeagnus angustifolia, Syringa vulgaris (Lilac).

When choosing your shrubs, take into consideration that small shrubs are easier to grow and more successful than larger plants and remember that while you may buy a small plant, it will grow over the next few years. To look after your shrubs, during the first years water well during dry periods and add some general fertilizer to the soil every spring. Pruning can be required on some shrubs, so check the plant label for information or ask your local nursery/garden centre.

Finally before the first frosts, move any tender plants in containers into a conservatory or greenhouse, protecting as well any plant of borderline hardiness with a 15 cm. thick layer of bark chips or any other mulch on their base. Evergreens keep their leaves throughout the winter, but if the weather is really tough drape a protective fleece over newly planted shrubs.

At the same time however, I must admit how valuable all this work has been. I have learnt so much about plants I already knew, how to combine them with other plants and discovered a series of completely new plants to me which from now I can start using on my designs. The second part of the assignment, the Seasonal Portfolio instead has given me the opportunity to see the evolution of different gardens throughout the year. How to use texture, structure, colour and some other plant characteristics to create gardens with all year round interest, which is a quality highly recognised in almost every single garden designer you can think of.

Tagged: colour combination, Dave's Garden, garden designer, seasonal portfolio, Shoot Limited, spring combination ]]> http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2010/09/01/finished/feed/ 2 luismorenolandscapes Yellow & Purple - Partial Shade Spring Combination http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2010/08/20/soft-landscape-portfolio-businesslink/ http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2010/08/20/soft-landscape-portfolio-businesslink/#comments Fri, 20 Aug 2010 10:24:04 +0000 luismorenolandscapes http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/?p=374 Continue reading →]]> Very busy times right now, as I am heading to the end of the PhD but first, need to finish the last assignment which is the Soft Landscape Portfolio. This is divided on two different parts, one Colour Combination Portfolio (ten combinations for both sunny and partially shaded spots, going from Yellow/Blue to Purple/Grey to name but a few) and two, Seasonal Plant Portfolio.

I can see it is very interesting and useful to start building up our knowledge of plants, but at the moment it is taking ages to find all the required information of every single plant, plus a nice picture from the internet (free of copyright of course) to add to it. This task is almost finished now and by next week I hope to be dealing with my own photographies, the ones I have taken during the year visiting gardens such Blenheim & Rousham, The RHS Garden Wisley or Waterperry which will be used to see the evolution of different borders during all 4 seasons of the year.

On the other side next week as well I will attend my second workshop with the people from BusinessLink. First one “Starting a business, is it for me?” was a bit of introduction to entrepreneurs to make you think if you really want to start your own business and what is involved with that decision. This one instead is more about “Getting the basics right” so I hope this will help me to know the basics of being self-employed, taxes, finances and best of all, a bit of marketing and how to develop my business plan, which I already have in mind.

A bit slowly but everything is taking shape.

Last week instead I had the opportunity to have all five days of work experience with Charlotte Rowe, one of the most successful former students of our Diploma. Really interesting to see how a garden designer works in real life and a more personal approach to the business than the one we have learnt at College.

As well as my colleague did last week, mornings were time for site visits, from Hampstead Heath to Notting Hill to check how the construction of some gardens was going on. I have to say this was one of the parts I enjoyed the most, as for my previous experience as a Site Manager I really felt I was in my “environment”. Some new designs were presented as well to clients and the general feeling was excitement and surprise about what a garden can be…

Later in the days from midday to evening was time for design, so spent time with SketchUp and VectorWorks preparing sketches for new gardens and doing some planting plans as well.

Finally on Friday, after having a nice pub lunch to celebrate Tomoko’s birthday, we all headed to two different gardens built some time ago, to do a photographic session with Clive Nichols. The most enjoyable part of the week, as while I could see the gardens designed with all the plants already grown and mature so they had a completely different look to when they were built, I was able to take some pictures to show you and practice my garden photography skills.

The village of Chaumont holds one of the most inspiring and innovative garden design shows in Europe and since 1992, year after year brings new and fresh air into the garden design and landscape architecture world. These are all gardens designed by art and garden-related people so apart from the obvious garden designers you can also find artists, engineers, set designers, etc… working as a team as long as there is a botanist or landscape architect within them. That is one of the reasons this show is so different to all others, as the gardens are conceived from a wide range of disciplines.

This year’s theme was “Body & Soul” and if you have a look at some of my pictures or my colleagues‘ ones you will see what the result was: jazz music, sculpture, japanese relaxation…

I consider this is a must-see garden show to visit for many different reasons and because it is hold for 6 months (which is besides a challenge for their designers) it is a place where to relax without the crowds of people you can find at Chelsea for example. Have for granted that I will come back next year. See you there!

The video goes from the small courtyard in Oxford (Project 1) to the medium size rural garden in Henley-on-Thames and finishes with the large country garden we designed in Blewbury (Project 3). I hope you enjoy it!!

The day started at 6 am in London and by 9 am I was already at St. Hugh’s College in Oxford together with my colleagues, ready to set all the drawings and plans up. Each one of us had two big boards where display the work, starting from the small courtyard we designed in September and ending with the 2.5 acres country garden in Blewbury we designed as Project 3. To be included as well a sample of all the assignments, such history timelines, hard landscape portfolio, tender documents, garden photographies, etc…

About midday, when everything was already displayed, the external examiner came to talk to us individually about our work and check the high level all of us have reached this year so far. With a lovely and hot day as this was, lunch time at the pub was the perfect moment to disconnect for an hour before all the visitors came in the afternoon.

At 4 pm everyone who knew about the exhibition started to pop in, so friends, family, former students and garden design related people waved through all the boards while we, the students, developed our PR skills with more or less success in front of a real audience. Fun enough, glasses of wine and champagne were available to everyone so the sense of having a very good moment was a general feeling.

Very pleased with my own work by the way and positive comments from former, present and future students together with other visitors (girlfriend and parents inclusive) made me feel proud of all the work done. Tomorrow will be the moment to enjoy heading to France and a few days later, my life as a proper garden designer in Fulham will start.

On Friday however we all will be heading to France and more specifically, to Tours, where we will be visiting one of the most important garden shows, The International Garden Festival of Chaumont-sur-Loire. Will be time to relax for 5 days but at the same time, keep improving our plant knowledge and building up the plants’ portfolios, which will have to be finished by the 1st of September.

On the other side, it is time to start thinking on our own garden design businesses. Business cards and websites are something already well known for all of us and in my case, I just need a bit of time to prepare mu business plan and make an initial balance of income and expenses, as the start is always one of the most difficult parts of a business. Some of the investment in technology is already done with my new iMac, an ergonomic mouse pad (really helpful when you spend hours and hours on your computer…) and CAD programs, but a bit more will have to be done to be on top (Vectorworks Landmark license, publicity on local papers and magazines, proper designed website…). Everything will come, but if you have got already a garden to design, do not hesitate to contact me, the new Fulham based garden designer. You will have for granted that your garden is 100% original and has been never done before.

Tagged: business, Chaumont-sur-Loire, Fulham, Garden Design, garden designer, Oxford College, Vectorworks Landmark ]]> http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2010/06/15/work-finished/feed/ 0 luismorenolandscapes Back Business Card http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2010/05/26/end-of-a-diploma-beginning-of-an-era/ http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2010/05/26/end-of-a-diploma-beginning-of-an-era/#comments Wed, 26 May 2010 10:58:19 +0000 luismorenolandscapes http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/?p=313 Continue reading →]]> For the last weeks things seem to be happening quite faster than usually. At the normal rush in the activity of our Diploma, having to deal with different projects, plant portfolios and other stuff, we have to add this time the proximity of the end of everything, or the very beginning of it I should say.

Last Thursday we had the last lecture about Business and Marketing. Being able to set up a own business in garden design is the aim of the majority of us studying here this year, so always good to hear tips, recommendations and all sort of information to make easier our transition to the real world. How to design you image (website, logo, internet presence) and how to let your potential clients know of your existence (leaflets, advertising in papers and magazines…) are all factors to be considered and added to the obvious business plan of your new Company.

Another source of income for landscape architects and garden designers are tree surveys for planners, architects and developers, so one day later we had a lecture about this topic and its application, following the regulations of  BS 5837. We spent the morning knowing how to carry out these surveys, how to classify trees depending on its characteristics (species, age, physiological and structural conditions, estimated expectancy of life…) and finished it with a proper exam. During the week we had  to study the most common thirty-something trees in UK and Europe, to be able to identify them through their leaves and bark, as some of them are deciduous and therefore, more difficult to identify in winter. The Collins Tree Guide did turn up to be a very useful and handy book, with information and detailed drawings of all these trees and with an optimal size to be able to carry it in your pocket. As a final celebration of the day, we headed to Harcourt Arboretum, 10 miles from Oxford and part of its Botanical Gardens, to do a real “in-situ” tree survey and start familiarizing with the terminology. We all really enjoyed as the sun was in its maximum and there were some very old and amazing trees.

This week instead will see us doing our final exam about Professional Practice and all the knowledge acquired during this short but very intense year. Friday will be the day to enjoy the peak event of the year in terms of flowers and gardens fashion, The Chelsea Flower Show. Will let you know about all the celebrities and posh people visiting it and of course, about the last trends in garden design.

A bit disapointing the Botanical Garden, as the staff was renovating and changing most of the flower beds. Nevertheless we were able to put in practice all the knowledge acquired the first day, making (and not taking) loads of different pictures (panning shoots, slow motion, freezing action and the easiest one, don’t give a damn shoot).

Waterperry Gardens instead were fabulous. I had never been there before and, besides being a garden centre, a tea shop, a restaurant, a museum and a Gardening School, it holds a lovely and a quite a big garden, where to walk freely while making nice shoots.

Tagged: garden photography, Oxford Botanical Garden, Oxford Col, Waterperry Gardens ]]> http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/garden-photography-and-waterperry-gardens/feed/ 4 luismorenolandscapes Panning shoot Freezing action & Small depth of field Waterperry Collage http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2010/05/13/special-guest-star/ http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2010/05/13/special-guest-star/#comments Thu, 13 May 2010 22:31:12 +0000 luismorenolandscapes http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/?p=293 Continue reading →]]> I am a bit excited as it is the first time in my life I am writing in a blog. More or less the same feeling I had a week ago, when I went to my first Jamie Cullum‘s gig!!

To be honest not everything was glory for Jamie, at least not at the beginning! We had to wait more than one and a half hours at The Grand, in south-west London, but once they appeared on stage, the sorrows dissapeared. I was impressed by the music and his “life” voice and the versatile musicians he plays with. It was really cool!

After that great night at the Jamie Cullum’s “Family & Friends” (and us) gig we went back home. On our way I spotted a graffitti with the sentence “If you can imagine it, you can achieve it”. I have always thought we must follow our dreams and I am happy Luis is achieving his. I suppose he and his colleagues at the Oxford College of Garden Design have imagined themselves in the past as garden designers and now they are a little bit closer to achieve it.

Good luck to everyone!

Now I am going to achieve mines.

Almudena

Tagged: Garden Design, Jamie Cullum, Oxford College of Garden Design, The Grand ]]> http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2010/05/13/special-guest-star/feed/ 2 luismorenolandscapes Jamie Cullum in concert http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/garden-designers-masterclasses-ii/ http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/garden-designers-masterclasses-ii/#comments Mon, 03 May 2010 00:35:12 +0000 luismorenolandscapes http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/?p=281 Continue reading →]]> First week after the Easter holidays period and back to the real world of garden design.

It’s been quite intense really, as last Wednesday we had a great session with Tamsin Slatter, the VW woman, to discover all we can do in 3 dimensions, including terrain modelling and recontouring. Using the initial survey file given by the land surveyor, we can produce a 3D terrain model which then, can be modified and adapted to the final levels result of our new designed garden.

On Thursday we had our expected first project presentation with a real client. As we could not meet her two months ago when doing the site visit, she came straigh away to Oxford to meet all of us and see our designs for Project 3. Very good presentations and drawings from everyone and some lovely rendering from some of them but a very good experience to prove myself. The only negative point… because it was the end of the day and I was exposing after almost all my colleagues, my nerves betrayed me and I forgot to explain part of the features of my garden. Something that will not happen again, for sure.

Another intense day which, to be honest, finished better than started as we had another great masterclass given by the italian garden designer Luciano Giubbilei. Very clean and sharp edges for a kind of formal garden with a perfect link between architecture and landscape, transforming the spaces in unique features just with the use of nature, the best available materials and maybe the most important thing, light quality. Very intense sensations what I could feel from his designs.

And finally Friday we had the opportunity to meet Charlotte Rowe, one of the most successful former students of our Diploma. With a very impressive PR background, she decided almost 6 years ago to embark herself in a completely new world, garden design. Always difficult starts, but knowing what she wanted to achieve and taking the most of every single help available (business advice from your Council, word of mouth, specialized journalism, etc.) she has really succeeded with her modern style.

Really busy these days finishing a 6,000 words about Public Parks in the XXth Century, preparing all the documents of Project 3 for a client’s presentation on the 29th of this month and working as well on some small private jobs. Nothing important at the moment, just some planting plans for small gardens (the ones you can find everywhere here in London) but it is something I can use to expand my plants  knowledge, which will never complete.

Added to all of this, I have to keep on with my plants and seasonal portfolios, so I went last Friday to visit one of the gardens near London, Saville Gardens. Sort of small but lovely gardens to have a nice walk and well known for its spring plant collections and fine floral displays. Completely recommended even if it is not easy to reach by public transport.

Time now to finish all this stuff on time for next week when we will start again lessons, with masterclasses of two great garden designers, Luciano Giubbilei and Charlotte Rowe, being she, in fact, one of the most successful former students of our Postgraduate Diploma. I will keep you up to date.

Tagged: Charlotte Rowe, Garden Design, Luciano Giubbilei, planting plan, Saville Gardens ]]> http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2010/04/18/where-is-time-going/feed/ 2 luismorenolandscapes Small low maintenance garden (Planting Plan) Saville Gardens http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/plant-nurseries-when-quality-is-vital/ http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/plant-nurseries-when-quality-is-vital/#comments Thu, 01 Apr 2010 10:42:30 +0000 luismorenolandscapes http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/?p=255 Continue reading →]]> Already in spring even if it is been raining for the last week and still more coming on the next few days. Should be time then to start planting some of the new stuff that has been growing on nurseries during the winter, although we might need to wait a little bit more until it is warmer.

About nurseries, we had an interesting lecture by Sally Court almost two weeks ago, just before the Easter Holidays on our Postgraduate Diploma in Oxford. It is always good to know some tips about the process of buying plants because if not careful enough, you might end up with plants you do not like, did not want or even worst, bad quality plants on site which could be embarassing in front of your client. Therefore some of the steps you should follow are:

1.- Choose your nursery: From small independents to wholesale or retail nurseries; General plants sellers or specialists? It is quite normal to go to several nurseries to fulfil a specification, so do not be afraid of spending time visiting them, as it will build up your professional working relationship as well.

2.- Quality: Must be the best, otherwise you will have an unhappy client…

3.- Substitutes: Only accept substitutes that fill the bill.

4.- Plants’ supply: If you supply the plants, you also take the responsability of the warranty which costs time and money. Be on site to take delivery and check it is fine regarding quantities and quality.

Some other steps might be useful but those will depend on how you run your business and how you want to implement them, so it will be up to you…

Fun enough, I have had the opportunity this week of visiting some of these nurseries, as I have been working in a small planting plan for a client. Some interesting places I have visited, starting from Evergreen which, I have to say, was very dissapointing in terms of the quality of the plants. However will be just fine if you are looking for something common, quick and basic…

Next on the list was Folia Europe. Some good shrubs and small trees complemented with a basic range of herbaceous, grasses and perennials but with a variable quality in some of their plants.

The final visit was the most profitable, Tendercare Nurseries. After some e-mails to contact them and to have a quotation, went there and found a 20 acres nursery, specialized in stablished and mature shrubs and trees (the starting size pot is 20L.). The most professional among the ones I visited, with helpful and knowledgeable staff like Craig and a very large selection of plants. Bought an Acer palmatum “Osakazuki” and a Cortaderia selloana “pumila” which are already the main features in the small garden.

Other nurseries I contacted and would reccomend are Hillier and Coblands, from whom I have received today its Directory of plants via mail and at a first look seems quite extense too.

Time well spent I think, because now I know where to go to choose my plants from.

We need to write a historical essay about any topic that might be of our interest and related to garden design during the XX Century. Thinking at the moment on the evolution in the use of different materials through the years, as might be concrete or glass but realistically, I think will follow tutor’s recommendation on going for an easier topic. Not because he might think I am not able to, but because maybe there is not enough information to write such essay.

At the same time we have been told to almost finish Project 3 “selling package”, including Moodboards, 3D model in SketchUp, sections elevations and so on… As we didn’t meet the Client when doing the site survey, she probably will come at the end of April to know us personally and see a personal presentation of everyone’s designs so… hard but interesting work coming.

On the other side, last Wednesday I knew my proposed design for a small Garden Design Competition was not succesful. It is fair enough as it means there is competition out there among other new designers but after putting so much effort on it, it was a bit dissapointing. But well, another lesson learnt in the real world and some tips and knowledge acquired to apply to other designs. Thank goodness I have gone over 1,000 visits on my blog this week as well, so that means might be someone reading all these adventures and maybe, a potential client as well. Never thought I was going to reach this point, so thank you so much to everyone!!

At this point is where the last two days of our PostGraduate Course highlight themselves. Yesterday we had a fantastic masterclass given by one of the most, if not the most influencial garden designer of the last Century, John Brookes. He talked to us about the evolution in garden design, how the whole designing process has been going back to nature during last years and how an organic and integrated design into its surrounding landscape makes it to be a good one. Interesting as well some of his answers to our questions… such a great character!!

And following with that, today we have been very busy with another great designer who has been in the business for more than 30 years, Anthony Paul. He has confirmed what we all already knew: there is nothing new to discover; everything has been invented. So it is in us to interpretate things in a different way to transfor them into amazing pieces of art, for example. To arrive at that point we need again, to think in what mother nature does (organic design) and to be open to all sorts of art expression, as might be sculpture, painting or even music, that so many times gives you the strenght to start that particularly difficult design…

So the day has gone quick but enjoying it until the last second, with a little chat and speed design exercise with him in the afternoon to prove ourselves the high standards all the group is reaching.

More next week.

Surfing on one of my colleagues‘ Facebook the other day, I could read about an International Award for the best private plots promoted by the Austrian Government. And later the same day, our tutor at the Oxford College of Garden Design posted about former students who have been awarded recently with important prizes for their designs.

I already knew how important is to make yourself a name in the industry and even the difficulty when starting your business when you are a new graduate. That is why I think everyone should think about all these competitions and awards for garden designers, as they are a very good way to have promotion and make pubblicity of yourself and as a result, another way of increasing the number of clients you might have.

There are several of these competitions every year, as are the ones held by the Society of Garden Designers, the Association of Professional Landscape Designers or even more specific competitions, as the one on The Grand Design Awards, where you could win a prize for your garden lighting design. Appart from these, there are several garden & flower shows, nurseries and Companies all around the Country that make their own competition, so the offer is quite extensive.

So it is up to you really, there are several options, but if you have just set up your business and are not so busy with real designs, why not trying? It could worth it!!

Lovely sunny day compared with so many days (and weeks) of grey and rainy skies, in spite our colleagues Alex and Selina will not say the same, as they had snow just 30 miles away from us.

So being that lucky with the weather, we’ve spent the whole day out of the classroom visiting two different places. In the morning we’ve been to Riverside Nurseries, part of the group Europlants and the UK agent for Vannucci Piante, one of the top plant nurseries in the world.

With a vast catalogue of plants, they can be proud of having one of the widest and most exciting ranges of specimen shrubs and trees in the UK. From a 2L. Buxus sempervirens to a 600 L. and 100 years old Olive tree, the quantity and quality of the plants well worths a visit, maybe in one of their open days at the end of the month.

In addition to this, after almost three weeks in a rush I have managed to finish the Tender Document of Project 2, our middle size country garden. 15 different plans A3 size and a complete Specifications Document, all to provide maximum information to possible tenderers and receive prices for every construction unit of the garden, avoiding disgusting problems with contractors, landscapers or even clients.

And going on with contrasts, when we were all thinking stress and nights with no sleeping because of the deadlines were finished, a new Project has just started, n.3 in this case. In the afternoon we have gone to visit the plot for our “will be” design. A rural site 2 acres big (that is approximately 8,000 m2 for my European readers) which needs some improvements and stylish design thoughts, as for the moment is little more than a big sports pitch, with a tennis court and plenty of lawn to play football, rugby or even cricket.

So we have spent almost half an hour taking loads of pictures of every single corner of the site, surroundings, main structures, etc. and analyzing what needs to be changed and improved. I will give you more information about it when able to but for the moment I will not post any other picture to preserve the privacy of the client.

So that’s it for today. Exhausted for the work done but excited at the same for the new ideas coming in.

After these exercises you might think we will have a little homework rest, but nothing further from reality. Last week we had lectures about drainage and setting out of plans, something I already knew because of my background, but still difficult as this time I am the designer and not the constuctor.

So our new deadline is on Friday the 19th of this month, to present a complete set of new plans of our Project 2: Drainage Plan, Levels and Setting Out Plan, Planting Plan and finally, a complete Specifications Document, so the garden can be completely built by any constructor without any misunderstanding or mistake. I will keep you informed!!

Fourth week of this January 2010 and finally tomorrow we will restart lessons in Oxford. It seems quite a long time since our Christmas party on December the 10th, but that is not a reason to think it has been a holidays period. Neither the opposite but quite near. Last deadline we had was our Project 2, a medium size rural garden which I wish our Principal had high-marked and that you can see below.

Since then almost twenty days in Spain, travelling from North to South and viceversa, and spending more time than required in airports thanks to BA, Iberia and the lovely weather we had in UK, with  2 feet of snow everywhere, which cancelled with more or less delay all three flights I took those days.

But I have to say that time was the “good one” of my holidays, because since I came back to London I have spent two weeks closed at home doing loads of homework for our next deadline, February the 5th. It consists in preparing two Portfolios, one about Hard Landscape from already built gardens and one Bespoke, comprising our own designs for garden structures, sculptures and furniture we might like to use in future projects.

To prepare this work we are using Vectorworks 2010, the standard program in the UK industry. The aim of this Hard Landscape Portfolio is to develop and understand how landscape elements are constructed and designed by drawing different structures and garden elements. Adding written design and construction specifications they have to be accurate enough to be understood by contractors to build them. It seems easy but I have worked 10-12 hours a day for the last two weeks on it, so not that easy…

The final result is quite satisfactory and that is true, now I know all I need to know to design whatever I might need in my oncoming gardens, from a retaining wall to a complex decking structure. Time well spent though…

Second part of this assignment is the Bespoke Portfolio which will have to be done in 1 week. I already have drawn the designs on pen and pencil, so “just” need to draw them in the computer and realize myself some of them are unreal, as can’t be built. That is the risk of letting my imagination to run wild.

Luckily tomorrow and Wednesday we have lessons with the VW’s tutor, Tamsin Slatter, so some of the problems I already had will be solved if not understood and everything will run faster (I hope) on the CAD side.

Tagged: Duncan Heather, Garden Design, hard landscape, London, OCGD, Oxford, Tamsin Slatter, VectorWorks 2010 ]]> http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/back-to-oxford-and-hard-work/feed/ 2 luismorenolandscapes Project 2 - Site Survey Project 2 - Bubble Diagram Project 2 - Sketch Plan Project 2 - Section Elevations http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2010/01/07/from-barcelona-to-london/ http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2010/01/07/from-barcelona-to-london/#comments Wed, 06 Jan 2010 23:39:48 +0000 luismorenolandscapes http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/?p=200 Continue reading →]]> As many of you may suppose and know, Barcelona and London are two of my favourites cities and I can say I feel lucky to have the opportunity to live in both from time to time.

I am flying tomorrow night (hopefully) to London to restart with the Garden Design Course but this time, after the Christmas period and knowing the weather situation in the UK it seems a little bit more difficult.

I have spent this last day in Barcelona going to the high part of the city, in particular to one of its must-seen monuments, the Park Güell of Antonio Gaudí. Full of tourists as usually and trying to take some nice shoots with my new Nikon D3000 camera. Still a lot to learn and improve but anyway, judge it yourself looking at my Flickr account.

Finally took some nice shoots from the highest mountain in the city, the mount Tibidabo, with the Telecommunications Tower of Collserola and the best views of the city, including the sea!!

On the other side to all these good news we find the end of the year and the new one arriving still quite difficult because of the crisis. So why don’t follow some simple ideas and tips to maintain and improve our business? Anything can help, so have a read in case you haven’t checked them yet.

- First, don’t pigeonhole yourself into particular markets, it is not all about back gardens. What about thinking about country garden markets, care homes or hospitals? Usually health sector projects are very rewarding and looking at housing association works could be another way to escape.

- Build contacts (including people you might sometimes see as the competition). As it is been said in previous posts, it is the time to network with other individuals or start partnerships with other professionals (architects, ecologists, artists) as can be worthwhile and not only because of the leads.

- Make sure your contact details are up to date. Put your business name into Google and check everything is all right.

- Brush up your promotional material in quieter weeks. Project sheets, PowerPoint demos can be always changed and improved. Make sure you have good photos of each project when it completes.

- And finally, go in for awards and competitions; you never know what you might win… and do not worry if you don’t win; it is another good way of getting your marketing materials better organised.

We needed to produce 3/4 architectural blanks A1 size with different information of the Project, starting with a Site Analysis and a Site Survey Plans and finishing with a complete Sketch Plan complemented with Perspective Views and Section Elevations Plans.

This time we have been using two different CAD programs at the same time, Google SketchUp and Vectorworks. I have already explained you how easy is to use the first one, so this time I have spent more time with VW. Among all the things you can do with it, one which is far much easier and less time-consuming is to draw your own architectural template already in scale, so it saves you time on printing and you can change it as much as you want for next projects (thanks Oli).

As I didn’t follow Tamsin recommendations to train ourselves at least half an hour a day, I had some problems at the beginning and everything went quite slow. But as the program is quite intuitive and easy to use it didn’t take more than a day to start producing quite good designs, importing and scaling drawings, etc. That’s why I like it because is so accurate and easy to use.

To finish, just a couple of things to say. The pictures you are looking at in this post are from Project 1 (smaller than this second Project) because I received the scanned files a couple of weeks ago and I still don’t have the ones for this.

And for those of you who like photography, have a look at this website called Boston.com as it shows some very good pictures of the historic and relevant moments we’ve lived this 2009 which is near to the end. Enjoy it!!

Tagged: CAD programs, Duncan Heather, Google SketchUp, Oxford College of Garden Design, photography, Section Elevation, Site Analysis, Site Survey, Skecth Plan, Tamsin Slatter, VectorWorks 2010 ]]> http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/christmas-end-of-period-and-photographic-review-of-the-year/feed/ 3 luismorenolandscapes Bubble Diagram Project 1 (Oxford Urban Garden) Sketch Plan Project 1 (Oxford Urban Garden) Planting Plan Project 1 (Oxford Urban Garden) http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2009/12/12/3-centuries-review-historical-inspiration-for-garden-designers/ http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2009/12/12/3-centuries-review-historical-inspiration-for-garden-designers/#comments Fri, 11 Dec 2009 23:49:54 +0000 luismorenolandscapes http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/?p=154 Continue reading →]]> After some days waiting on the hard-drive of my laptop I show you my final pictures for the timelines.

As I told you in an older post, as part of our learning process as future fully qualified Garden Designers, we’ve been working in this exercise in a way to understand how artists worked and where do they found their inspiration. It’s been quite interesting to do a research along 3 Centuries to find outstanding moments in history for every single decade and then, relate them to a piece of art, a garden and to a building or architecture creation.

The easiest one it’s been 20 th Century because, as you can imagine, is the one closer to these days but even in that case, it’s always helpful to review art history and find so many artists you didn’t know but that now work as an inspiration for your designs.

Quite interesting as well, apart from gardens, all the great buildings that have been built during these years and still are a great engineering success or advanced to our days. Have a look and enjoy.

I’ve arrived a couple of hours ago from Covent Garden, where Jamie Culllum has been performing (and busking) for the Crisis Charity. I’ve been following his last tweets to know exactly at what time it was going to be, so at 5 pm I was already there, trying to find the best location to take pictures and videos. I don’t know if I have succeeded or not but anyway, I could speak to him for 5 seconds and ask for an autograph, which is far more than I was expecting.

The show has started with “These are the days” from his 2004 album, Twentysomething followed by this year’s Rihanna’s hit “Don´t stop the music“. To be honest, a much better version than the original and with much more feeling at the same time.

After some other songs from his last album, as “Just one of those things” the concert almost finished with an improvised version of Caravan in the middle of the Piazza, without micro and just his voice and his musicians.

Such an amazing gig for free and such an artist and a best performer I think, as he always plays the piano and sings in live. Great band as well, thank you very much to all you  five. I know it’s been a busy day for you after being on TV at 3 pm, so don’t give up and see you next May in concert again.

It is important at the same time to be “the first of the class” or in “Google language”, to be on the first page of this web search engine, so it would not be a bad idea to start building all kind of connexions (both professional and personal) on the net, such as an updated blog and some of the most important social networks of these days (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook…). Choose your preferred ones as they are addressed to different groups of people, but everything helps and think of it as a part of your business, so you can´t say NO.

Changing subject, when arriving to London has come to my mind a thought about ecology in which I could be involved. As a garden designers or landscape architects, one of the possibilities we might have to develop our careers is to work with the Planning authorities in our area.

At that point is when we could start changing our cities or towns, as would be one of our responsabilities to design or improve green spaces for our fellow citizens. In these days where streets, roads and public spaces are controlled by private cars and their pollution, even the smallest change could improve the air quality and indeed our quality of life.

One of the indicators I have found to assure this quality of life is the green surface ratio in cities, meant as the green surface per inhabitant in every single city of the world. I know London is one of the cities with more green areas in its territory but surprisingly is not among the top ones, which are cities like Brussels or Madrid, with 16 m2 of green surface per inhabitant and at the same time, the city with more aligned trees in the world, after Tokyo. Just food for thought.

I finished the 3 Centuries timeline I talked to you about in the last post on Friday night, so since then I’ve focused my attention in our Project 2. Last week we went to Henley-on-Thames to visit and survey the site and spent all the afternoon taking measurements and learning how to take the levels of the site with different instruments.

The site is a country garden of about 350 m2 approximately but with a lot of improvement to do. Loads of lawn and  three or four sheds with none or poor use that definitely need to go plus a half blind dog that likes to go all around the garden and plenty of requirements from the client, so hard work. At this moment I’ve just started to figure out where I am going to place all the different areas, spaces and uses of the garden but not sure if everything is going to fit, I’ll let you know when finished.

To help with the design of this new project, last week as well started the lectures about construction, something I enjoy more maybe because I know these subjects and my background is related with it. Special attention and interest I made to the lecture about pond construction. Martin Kelley, a 30 years experience Managing Director of Fairwater Limited gave us a splendid lesson on how to introduce a pool, water feature or even a natural swimming pool in our designs. So great was the lecture that the day passed without caring about time and at the end of the day, all of us wanted a natural pool in our gardens.

As I’ve got an Engineering background and some previous knowledge on AutoCAD, it does not seem so difficult to me but I have no doubt it will be tough and hard as well, knowing that always requires some time to adapt to the new tools and features of a new program to get the best of it.

To help on that point we are lucky to have Tamsin Slatter as an IT/CAD tutor. After 20 years working in the IT industry, she escaped and trained as a landscape designer but rapidly realised Vectorworks could be the designer tool of the future, so she started her own training company and specialised in introducing designers from all walks of life to the wonders of Vectorworks. She is author of the book “Residential Garden Design with Vectorworks Landmark” and participates in their customer quality program, testing new releases long before they hit the streets.

We will continue tomorrow with another session and then our Principal on the Course will test our knowledge during the Christmas holidays with all sort of homework to be presented at the beginning of next year.

Talking about homework, I’ve spent this short weekend preparing another of them. It’s called timeline and it’s a sort of compilation of pictures of every decade for the last 3 Centuries. Every one of these Centuries is divided at the same time in four main topics (Art, Architecture, Gardens & Socieconomy) so what we need to do is to find all sort of art expressions, buildings or constructions, gardens and parks and place them into a socioeconomic context, so we can understand better why society at that time used to do certain things and understand the evolution and progress of humanity through its acts and constructions.

I haven’t finished mines completely, but I place you here the Centuries I’ve got so far, so you can try to guess the different pictures and photographies and when I receive some feedback on them I will post all 3 Centuries with its solutions, all right? Good luck!!

Tagged: AutoCAD, Duncan Heather, Garden Design, History, Oxford College of Garden Design, Tamsin Slatter, Timeline, VectorWorks 2010 ]]> http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2009/11/17/timelines-vectorworks-2010/feed/ 2 luismorenolandscapes 19th Century Timeline 20th Century Timeline http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/project-1-final-presentation-moodboards-more%e2%80%a6/ http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/project-1-final-presentation-moodboards-more%e2%80%a6/#comments Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:26:04 +0000 luismorenolandscapes http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/?p=103 Continue reading →]]> The first important deadline of our Postgraduate Course arrived yesterday and it wasn´t that bad I have to say.  Last two weeks of hard work (to be honest a little more… just since the Course started ) to prepare our first design, a small urban garden in Oxford.

Quite a lot to do, so the first thing I did were two moodboards, one contemporary and one classic, showing our style of design with different pictures and photographies of garden sculptures, materials,  furniture, paving, etc. Have a look at them and let me know your opinions, I’d love some feedback!!

Once they were finished we had to prepare three A1 Architectural Blanks showing all our design process, from the conceptual analysis or “bubble diagram” to a planting plan and some single point perspectives and section elevations of our 3D design.

I have to say the critics were quite fair as there was no problem with the design itself but with some parts of the presentation and drawings. I know I have to improve my rendering and develop my artistic skills but I am on the way, as with my Engineering background I was used for the last 12 years to draw just hand-drawn straight lines or by computer (CAD programs which I still think are far more accurate and professional). Took some notes on things to improve for next projects but nothing dramatic (size of one bubble diagram and SketchUp sections and something else…). I had good feelings I have to say.

As soon as our tutor Duncan Heather have them scanned I will post them to you, so you can see what I am talking about.

Finally, as I haven’t talk about music, my other passion, for the last weeks, let me give you a little but important advice. Listen to Jamie Cullum. For the ones don’t know him, is the best jazz & piano player of the moment and every single album he records is even better than the previous one. Listen carefully this amazing sample and you’ll see what I am talking about. Hope you like it!!

I’ve been working on it during this weekend, trying to make some changes on my design, some suggested by Duncan and others found by myself, in this learning process where we are all involved.

As a result I’ve made a new design on SketchUp as you can see below. It is not finished yet, as I am trying to design all the different plants and tress which involves loads of time. At the moment you can only see different coloured round patterns, pretending to be plants as are the same size as them (heigh and width).

Tomorrow we will have some tutorials about this program with our IT tutor, Tamsin Slatter, Principal Trainer and Director of Vectorworks Training and author of ‘Residential Garden Design with Vectorworks Landmark’. Hope to learn all the secrets of this program and to improve my design as well as its presentation options.

Appart from this, last friday we went to visit a lovely and gorgeous nursery in Henley-on-Thames called Orchard Dene Nurseries. It is run by another of our tutors, Chris Marchant, a woman passionate about plants who started the business more than twenty years ago, so you can imagine all the experience and knowledge she’s got.

We learnt the main points of how to run a nursery, the propagation of the plants, the nice staff that makes it reality… And at the end, after a practical class of how to select, check and control on site our selection of plants, we had time to take some photographs for our portfolio. What a shame I forgot my camera, so the ones you’ll see were made with my mobile phone… ;(

Tagged: Duncan Heather, Garden Design, Orchard Dene Nurseries, SketchUp, Vectorworks ]]> http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/week-6/feed/ 2 luismorenolandscapes Project 1.1.2 Orchard Dene Nurseries 1 Orchard Dene Nurseries 2 http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/sketch-up-and-new-projects/ http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/sketch-up-and-new-projects/#comments Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:51:17 +0000 luismorenolandscapes http://luismorenolandscapes.wordpress.com/?p=76 Continue reading →]]> Two weeks since last time I posted. Quite a lot of job and not even a free second to talk to you.

In this time we did a visit to our first client’s garden, which will be our Project 1 of the year. It’s a little courtyard in Oxford (15×8 m.) but how many problems we’d got already trying to figure out a good design, with strong bonds and a modern and contemporary style for our client, all before starting to “decorate” the garden with sculptures and any kind of plants.

We visited Greystone as well, house & garden of our principal, Duncan Heather, for an introduction class about Picasa, the photography-editor-manager computer program from Google, to obtain the very best of each one of our pictures. Quite an interesting tutorial as usually and now just need time to practise both, photography and its edition.

Tomorrow I’ll have time to visit Wisley Gardens. As its website says, it is “undoubtedly one of the great gardens of the world. Its huge plant collection is also diverse, with a comprehensive fruit-growing collection, alpines, vegetables, bulbs as well as herbaceous and woody plants.” I hope that’s true, as I need to take as many pictures of autumm borders and beds as possible to start creating my seasonal plant portfolio.

When returning from there, I shall finish my second design for this Project 1 I commented you before. I am drawing it with SketchUp, another program from Google to draw and design in 2&3 Dimensions. It’s already almost finished but it takes so long to fill the garden with plants that I’m fed up at the moment. That’s why in the next two pictures, the garden seems to be a little empty.

Apart from that, it’s a very interesting program and easy to use, not as other CAD programs, with complicated features and combinations that never end when trying to work in 3D. Try it and you’ll see you could draw even your own houses and gardens.

We spent the day visiting the wonderfuls Blenheim Palace and Roushan Gardens, both quite close to Oxford.

Blenheim Palace, home to the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough and birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill, was built in the XVII Century, to celebrate the victory over the French during the Wars of the Spanish Succession. Its gardens were designed by “Capability” Brown and are considered his masterpiece. You can find more than a million trees and very different areas like the Formal, the Pleasure and Secret Gardens, the Cascade, the Dam… They deserve a visit.

In the afternoon we went to Rousham Gardens, kind of private gardens still runned and managed by the same family over the Centuries. What a wonderful place, to relax and enjoy, full of gorgeous herbaceous borders and a complete kitchen garden at the back. It was designed by William Kent and is one of the few which has escaped the transformation the alterations over the years.

Special attention to the Dahlias border. Huge, gorgeous and wonderful range of colours I’d never seen before in a composition with these plants.

Apart from the trip, we’ve continued on Thursday and Friday with our first classes of History of Garden Design. We’ve known the evolution of all kinds of art, from architecture to paintings, all influenced by the economic and political situation of each moment in History. That’s the only way you can understand art and landscape design, as an expression of the historic moment every artist has to live.

We’ve been drawing some different shapes (squares & rectangles basically) to learn how to distribute spaces and maintain the proportions. As a result we now know that is always important to built “strong bonds” between all the different areas of our garden so for the human perception it’s nicer.

And the way to build those “strong bonds” is through the “glueing space”.  When moving from one area to another of your garden they need to be connected for one same zone, big enough to keep the connexion and the right proportion. The best example is when you take two different-size pieces of card and you want to glue them for one of its sides. The “glueing space” has to be big enough to make a proper bond between them. If it’s too small, the bond will break, so the same with the areas of your garden.

If you haven’t understood it properly, have a look at Ben Nicholson‘s work and you’ll see that it all started almost a Century ago. Good luck!!

To end for today, I leave you here the link for one of my colleagues’ blog, Alex, the best garden designer in Germany.

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Segundo día ayer viernes en Oxford y más información para retener en nuestra cabeza.

Estuvimos dibujando varias formas diferentes (cuadrados y rectángulos básicamente) para aprender a distribuir los espacios y mantener las proporciones. Como resultado ahora sabemos que siempre es importante construir “relaciones fuertes” entre todas las diferentes partes de nuestro jardín, de forma que la percepción por el ojo humano es más sencilla.

Y la forma de construir esas “fuertes relaciones” es mediante “la zona de pegado”. Cuando te mueves de una zona a otra de tu jardín, éstas necesitan estar conectadas por una misma zona, suficientemente grande como para mantener la conexión y una proporción adecuada. El mejor ejemplo es si cogéis dos trozos de cartón de diferente tamaño e intentáis pegarlos por uno de sus lados. La “zona de pegado” debe ser suficientemente grande para crear una correcta unión entre ellos. Si esta zona es muy pequeña, la unión de los cartones se romperá, por lo que lo mismo sucede con las diferentes zonas de vuestro jardín.

Si lo habéis entendido correctamente, echadle una ojeada al trabajo de Ben Nicholson y veréis que todo esto empezó más o menos hace un Siglo. ¡Buena suerte!

Para acabar por hoy, os dejo el link del blog de una compañera mía, Alex, la mejor paisajista de toda Alemania.

I know it’s been a long time since I last posted. I really apologize for it but you know… so many things to talk about, holidays in between, a little time in Barcelona with some really good friends & family… but it’s over.

Yesterday I finally started my Postgraduate Course in Garden Design in Oxford, the Course I have been waiting and focusing my efforts on for the last months. Good to see again the principal, Duncan Heather and to meet some other lecturers. Time as well to know my new colleagues and to start to build a relationship which, I wish, will be helpful and valuable in both, personal and professional fields.

Right now I am on the bus to Oxford for my second day of classes, which yesterday started drawing some basic shapes to get used to graphite sticks and other drawing materials… Today will continue with some history of the garden design in the world. I’ll let you know later on. Enjoy your day because I will do the same.

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Buenos días a todos,

Sé que ha pasado mucho tiempo desde la última vez que escribí en el blog. Lo siento de verdad, pero ya sabéis lo que que pasa… muchas cosas de las que escribir, las vacaciones en medio, unos días en Barcelona con algunos muy buenos amigos y la familia… pero se acabó.

Ayer finalmente empecé el Curso de Postgrado en Paisajismo en Oxford, el Curso que he estado esperando y en el que he puesto todos mis esfuerzos durante los últimos meses. Estuvo bien volver a ver al tutor principal, Duncan Heather y conocer a algunos de los tutores.  También tuvimos tiempo para conocer a mis nuevos compañeros, para empezar a forjar una relación que espero que sea valiosa tanto en lo personal como en lo profesional.

Ahora mismo estoy en el autobús yendo a Oxford para el segundo día de clases, que empezaron ayer dibujando formas básicas para habituarnos al uso de lápices de grafito y otro material de dibujo: Hoy seguiremos con un poco de historia sobre el diseño de jardines en el mundo. Ya os lo explicaré más tarde. ¡Disfrutad del día porque yo haré lo mismo!

Today is the 40th Anniversary of Abbey Road‘s release, the last album of those giants of music called Beatles. I won’t go to talk about the Album and its music because, obviously, I’m not the right person to talk about it. I just know the most important songs of their career and I think they are quite good, even today.

And what made this Album so famous is its cover, with all four men (John, Paul, George & Ringo)walking on the pedestrian crossing next to their recording Studios.

So if you fancy going the address is 3 Abbey Road, NW8 9AY‎, just one street behind St. John’s Wood tube station, on the Jubilee Line.

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Para cualquiera que venga a Londres durante más de un fin de semana y sobre todo para todos los fans de los Beatles, aquí va un sitio que debéis visitar.

Hoy es el 40 Aniversario del lanzamiento de Abbey Road, el último álbum de esos gigantes de la música llamados Beatles. No empezaré a hablar del Álbum ni de su música porque, obviamente, no soy la persona adecuada para hablar de ello. Simplemente conozco las canciones más importantes de su carrera y creo que son bastante buenas, incluso hoy.

Y lo que hizo famoso este Álbum es su portada, con los cuatro músicos (John, Paul, George & Ringo) caminando sobre el paso de peatones al lado de sus Estudios de grabación.

Por lo tanto si os apetece ir, la dirección es el nº3 de Abbey Road, NW8 9AY, justo una calle detrás de la estación de metro de St. John’s Wood, en la Jubilee Line.

This question came to me this morning at the Garden Centre, when one customer asked to me. So here you have some suggestions which, hopefully, will improve the colour of your gardens.

- Fuchsia hybrida, Fuchsia Autumnale: Just to name a couple but most of the Fuchsias go.

- Impatiens walleriana: So many different colours, from white to orange, pink and red.

- Lobelia erinus “Cambridge Blue”: Trailing blue-flowered plant.

- Nicotiana: Different varieties and colours and loved by slugs and snails, lol!!!

- Geranium Sanguineum: Peculiar herbaceous variety of geranium with small flowers in white, pink or purple.

Good night!

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Tan sólo un rápido post antes de que se acabe el día. Sabiendo que el verano en Londres no está siendo muy bueno (de hecho, dificilmente puedo acordarme de dos días soleados seguidos el pasado mes de Julio…) creo que podría ser interesante conocer algunas plantas de temporada que funcionan bastante bien en la sombra o en una posición no muy soleada.

La pregunta me la ha hecho esta mañana un cliente en el Garden Center. Por lo tanto, aquí tenéis algunas sugerencias que espero que mejoren el colorido de vuestros jardines.

- Fuchsia hybrida, Fuchsia Autumnale: Conocidas en España como “Pendientes de la reina”. Sólo nombro un par de variedades, pero la mayoría de ellas funcionan igualmente.

- Impatiens walleriana: En España “Las alegrías de la casa”. Tienen muchos colores diferentes, desde el blanco a los naranjas, rosas y rojos.

- Lobelia erinus “Cambridge Blue”: Planta colgante y/o para cubrir pequeñas zonas. Flores azules.

- Nicotiana: La planta del tabaco. Hay diferentes variedades y colores y además, a los caracoles y babosas les encanta, jajajajajaja!!!

- Geranium Sanguineum: Peculiar variedad herbácea de geranio con pequeñas flores blancas, rosas o moradas.

¡Buenas noches!

It was a dream for me to come to London and that is what I am doing.

Last Monday and even today Sunday I have been working on my own “business” (if I can call it like that…). I have started to do some gardening and maintenance jobs on my own and I went on Monday to prune one Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) and one Olive (Olea europaea) trees. It wasn’t that bad, in fact, I should say I have improved my knowledge of this two trees, specially the magnolia. I knew it is a tree that doesn’t like to be prunned because it is quite delicate. But thanks to one very important site, I have learned that if there’s a season when you should prune it is during the summer, so it has time to recover before the winter. The site in question is www.rhs.org.uk. Amazing site with loads of information about almost every plant, tree, shrub… in the world.

There’s other site I’d like to share with you, but about a completely different subject. It is the place where I went yesterday to have a drink with my flatmate and other friends. It is near to Old Street Tube Station and it is called The Bedroom. So cool DJ performing together a saxophone musician, both in a perfect synchronization of tribal-house music. Highly recommended for a nice drink until 2 a.m.

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Un día como este pero hace 1 año. Ese fue el momento en que llegué a Londres intentando cambiar completamente mi estilo de vida. Podría decir que estoy celebrando ese momento a pesar de que aún estoy intentando encontrar mi sitio en el mundo, ya que creo que todo el mundo debería perseguir sus sueños.

Era un sueño para mí venir a Londres y eso es lo que estoy haciendo.

El lunes pasado e incluso hoy domingo he estado trabajando en mi “propio negocio” (si puede llamarse así…). He empezado a hacer algunos trabajos de jardinería y mantenimiento por mi cuenta y el lunes fuí a podar un Magnolio (Magnolia grandiflora) y un Olivo (Olea europaea). No fue nada mal y, de hecho, debo decir que he mejorado mi conocimiento de estos dos árboles, especialmente el Magnolio. Sabía que era un árbol que no agradece la poda ya que es bastante delicado. Pero gracias a una gran página web he aprendido que si hay una estación en que debe ser podado, es durante el verano, para que tenga tiempo de recuperarse antes del invierno. El sitio en cuestión es www.rhs.org.uk. Un sitio increíble con muchísima información sobre casi toda planta, árbol, arbusto… del mundo.

Hay otra página web que me gustaría comentaros, pero sobre un tema completamente diferente. Es el sitio al que fuí ayer a tomar algo con mi compañera de piso y otros amigos. Está cerca de la estación de Old Street y se llama The Bedroom. El DJ es genial y actúa junto con un saxofonista, en una sincronización perfecta de múscia house tribal. Un sitio altamente recomendable para tomar una copa hasta las 2 la mañana.

To be honest, I knew nothing about it before I came to London last year but when I started to search for a Course I noticed it was the one I should attend. It is run by one of the most important designers in Europe, Duncan Heather and the website is www.garden-design-courses.co.uk.

I let you to have a look at the website to avoid bothering you with a simple Copy-Paste, all right?

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Como os dije ayer, esto intentará ser un sitio donde hablar y comentar acerca de paisajismo diseño de jardines. Por eso voy a empezar hablando del Curso que empezaré en Septiembre en Oxford. De hecho, ese es el principal motivo por el que también estoy escribiendo este blog.

A decir verdad, no conocía nada de este Curso antes de venir a Londres el año pasado, pero cuando empecé a buscar sobre Cursos, me dí cuenta de que este en el que debía matricularme. El tutor principal es uno de los más importantes paisajistas de Europa, Duncan Heather y la página web es www.garden-design-courses.co.uk.

Os dejo que os miréis directamente su web para evitar aburriros con un simple Corta y Pega, ¿de acuerdo?

As a new blogger I will try to write as much as I can but I know it will be quite difficult. The main purpose of this blog will be to talk about anything related with landscaping and garden design, as it will focuse all my attention from next September. I suppose I will write about music and going out in London and Oxford because is something that has always like me that much. Let’s see how it goes ok?