Haringey Garden

A garden with hard landscaping already in place but no planting. The brief was to soften the space and create a sanctuary for a young couple.

Frances built the planting structure around small trees and shrubs first, using evergreens, ferns, and grasses for year-round form, with perennials layered in for flower and seasonal interest.

The garden is relatively low maintenance, though Frances visits every two to three weeks in the growing season to edit and refine the space, and it has improved year on year. After care is essential to making sure any garden flourishes and develops. The ongoing challenge is drought and watering, particularly in containers, where plants can't draw down to groundwater, so reducing the garden's water needs is an active piece of work.

“When I first got my house, the garden was completely empty and lifeless, and I had no idea what to do with it. I didn’t know where anything should go, which plants made sense, or even what I liked. Then Frances came into my life and, with enormous patience, knowledge and care, opened the door to a world I hadn’t realised I was missing. Now, every morning before anyone wakes, I go outside with a coffee, watching the birds and bees busy themselves among the plants. Frances hasn’t simply transformed my garden into somewhere beautiful and alive, she's taught me how important it is to have a little patch of life to call your own. It has been fascinating to learn from her, and I couldn’t recommend her more highly.”

—Gabriel, Haringey

A Personal Garden

A small, neglected courtyard, south-west facing, so sunny, but enclosed by fencing on all sides.

Frances transformed the tired decking by paving using reclaimed London brick laid in a herringbone pattern, unifying the space with a single material. The fences were replaced and painted in Copper's Earth (Jinny Blom x Mylands), a colour that reads as an off-white with shifts toward purple, grey, and murky brown depending on the light, an ideal backdrop for plant texture and colour.

Planting began with structural evergreens such as Pittosporum, alongside kitchen herbs including Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) and Laurus nobilis (bay) for practicality. A multi-stem Amelanchier provides tree structure. Grasses and ferns have since been layered in, with further work planned on variation in texture and form, along with stronger seasonal colour. A seasonal bulb scheme adds essential interest in the darker months. Tulips form a key addition and are used as cut flowers for artwork creation.

Next steps: growing more food in the beds, making better use of the sun, and moving the planting toward greater drought tolerance, inspired by Beth Chatto.

Finsbury Park Garden

An already established, low-maintenance garden, with gravel and level changes in place before Frances arrived. The brief here was privacy: the garden was very overlooked by neighbouring properties.

Frances introduced pleached trees for structural, evergreen screening, and greened up the boundary walls and fences with trellising for additional privacy.

She continues to consult on the garden, introducing plants and building interest. However, it needs to stay very low maintenance as the clients are away a great deal.