Design Insights & Trends from Our Design Lead

This week I wanted to do something a little different and handed the reigns over to one of our resident designers to give you a little insight into what she does and how she goes about it and her favourite styles and what trends she sees for the year ahead.  Kathryn Payne is one our Design leads on the nursery and  works wonders in gardens, her qualification is in Design with a diploma in Spatial Design and has been creating stunning gardens for lots of our clients.

I asked her what she had chosen Garden and Landscape Design and this is what she told me

“Garden Design for me is taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary, it’s bringing the twinkle in the eye, achieving interest & balance visually but also about the experience of the space. A good garden should draw you in and have layers of interest, in its planting style but also in its material choices and functionality, there is no sense in having a garden that isn’t liveable.  A garden should enhance the lifestyle of those that are fortunate enough to create & occupy it for a lifetime or an afternoon”

In looking at her Design Style, it is clear that she has a very keen interest in sustainable design but she has picked out the following as being key components to her designs ;

Pollinator Meadows – “with our beautiful greenhouses of perennial pollinators & grasses handled in planting schemes to create a balance of nature & style”

Water Features – “garden design to create a sense of calm & beauty, integrating multiple sensory elements from sight to sound & smell”

Honesty to Materials – “layering of textures & colour to achieve a rich tapestry across the whole of the garden space from planting beds to terraces & furniture details”

Pockets Forests– “we’ve all heard of the Japanese prescription for Forest Bathing, but what if we could bring it into our every day, unlimited by scale or size of space”

Jewel Tones – “the luxury of deep tones isn’t limited to interior trends, richly coloured herbaceous borders add depth of interest & marry so well to modern but basic materials: think Corten Steel, Charred Wood & Copper Elements”

Kathryn has been paying particular attention to this years RHS Chelsea Flower Show and the interesting textures and colours that the different time of year brings to the palette.  She has been particularly interested in adding the prairie and woodland style of planting into contemporary spaces, adding much more than planting and colour but a wonderful decadent twist on the paired back designs that we’ve seen in more recent years. 

The adding of texture and tone into areas of the garden whilst keeping a keen eye on how the garden works for the occupants but also how the gardens works sustainably for now and the future.  She was particularly interested in the RHS COP26 garden, inspired by the UK’s hosting of the UN Climate Change Conference showing the potential of our gardens and outdoor spaces to play an integral part in protecting our planet and our future generations.

Our Designers offer a number of Services from Consultation through to Full Design and Build, Kathryn is just one of the team along with Ian, Anderson, Colm & Joanne to find out more about the services we offer you can contact Kathryn directly on kathryn@https://https://caraghnurseries.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Populus-termula-1.jpgnurseries.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/naas-racecourse-e1525437359519-1.jpgnurseries.ie or the team coordinator on design@https://https://caraghnurseries.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Populus-termula-1.jpgnurseries.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/naas-racecourse-e1525437359519-1.jpgnurseries.ie or do call us for more details on 045 879170