This north facing front garden in Kempston had been terraced and Susan was recommended by the contractor to the owner for planting. At the initial meeting planting style, aspect and maintenance issues were discussed and an outline scheme agreed. As the terrace faced the living area of the property, plant choices needed to look interesting and varied all year round. The resulting Mediterranean style planting includes Cistus, Helianthemum and Pulsatilla.
A year later Susan was asked to clear and replant the south facing back garden with climbers, shrubs and herbaceous perennials in a colour scheme of red, orange and yellow in both flowers and in some of the leaf colouration. Quite a contrast of style compared to the front garden.
The front garden was on a slope from the pavement down to the house, it was bland and difficult to maintain. We had no idea how we could change this patch into a garden to be proud of. We had a landscaper in to tier the garden in to 3 terraces, using railway sleepers to act as retaining walls to make a feature, so we had this done and used 20/30mm scotch cobbles as the hard landscaping.
Susan was recommended to us by the landscaper so we gave her a call. Then we sat with Susan to discuss suitable plants and shrubs to add life and colour to the feature. She was totally focused on advising us within our own brief and what was both suitable and practicable. From the first meeting right through until the project was completed, Susan was both knowledgeable and focused both on listening to both my wife and my wishes and what could be achieved. She came over as a person who cared about her clients and about creating gardens that met our brief.
The garden now looks different to all those around us, and is a pleasure to look out at and admire. We have been inundated with compliments on both the style and planting of the garden, little did they know we had a secret weapon, no other than Susan Young.
The rear garden was a well established garden but due to our inexperience we had planted unsuitable bushes and shrubs in the wrong position. So again we sat with Susan and described what we would like and how we could achieve our goal, and again being armed with our brief Susan made suggestions, some we agreed on and others we talked about at length until an agreement was reached. Again we now have a well planted, colourful garden to look out on and weather permitting sit in to enjoy the colours.
I would recommend Susan Young, most definitely as she was as enthusiastic as we were in changing the two gardens from bland miss planted, labour intensive to maintain areas, into two totally different gardens that we are proud of and enjoy with low maintenance.
Susan is dedicated to her work and is totally client satisfaction orientated, the fact of the comments we receive on the front garden and how we now enjoy the rear garden is all down to Susan’s drive and enthusiasm to achieve what the client wants. I would now call her a friend, Susan’s enthusiasm is infectious!JR Kempston March 2015