A walk around a garden can be very therapeutic.

I received an email from a client today, it was most thought provoking, all about the therapeutic effects of a well thought out landscape, in her case an ancient woodland area.

I’ve been designing and building some amazing landscapes since graduating way back in 1975.

Sometimes when we finished a project the garden took on it’s own aura – one a Chelsea Flower Show exhibit literally changed colour and became this amazing golden yellow, you could almost feel the colour ( if that’s possible)

I’m in the business of creating dreams for people – if we manage to design well the garden does indeed make folks feel happy and at peace. More often than not we tend to energise folks into taking more time to enjoy what we have created.

One of our favourite additions is a path around the garden, it needs to be wide enough for two to walk side by side so about 5ft wide is ideal, in this way the enjoyment of the garden becomes a journey with a destination as well as a practical gardening use.

In this case we added a pergola for a little shade as you walk, as well as a focal point from the terrace, in the distance you can also make out a well feature, so the path has various destinations as you walk around.

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It’s also a good idea to create a firm edge to a path, to prevent it from migrating into the landscape, the path itself is made with a  sub base of limestone and a dressing of finer binding gravel to act as a wearing surface – requiring a little weeding and a rake & roll every two months.

Always set the lawn level about 1/2inch (15mm)  to an inch(25mm) above the path edge, in this way you can clean cut the lawn with just the mower, and those dreadful strimmers can be left in the truck !

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You can hear more about our techniques, ideas, views of experts, interviews with home owners with beautiful gardens on our new radio show called Growing Trends – you can find us at www.cravingtalkradio.com

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Chris Coope

Author: Chris Coope

Born in Great Britain, Chris Dyson-Coope followed his training and passion in the field of horticulture for decades. This path led him to multiple awards for landscape design and many prestigious projects in the United Kingdom and the U.S. Chris has received 19 national awards for projects as varied as city parks, urban regeneration, playgrounds, office parks and streetscapes. He pioneered the use of designer drives in the 1980s utilizing Permacrib to create structural green walls and award-winning green roofs in London. Most recently, Dyson-Coope has nurtured his interest as an educational innovator to produce an Internet radio show (GrowingTrends.com), books on landscaping, and a series of fictional children's books that explore non-fictional themes such as sustainable agriculture, geography, and history. Convinced that the younger generation can (and must) learn from the older generation, as well as blazing new paths toward a sustainable future for a planet in deep distress from climate change and unsustainable practices, Dyson-Coope presents workable solutions in multiple formats, from books to inventions, podcasts and educational media. With several horticultural patents to his credit, the noted horticulturalist looks to the future with hope that the younger generation will grab the "torch" of innovation to develop and maintain a more sustainable world for us all. Dyson-Coope is a member of The Chartered Institute of Horticulture and serves as Director of Children's Sustainable Education for Energime University. Chris lives in Weston, Missouri, with his lovely wife, Cindi.

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