Garden design, garden planning, garden layout, planting plants and planting schemes

Aviva Stadium – an awe inspiring venue for renewing Irish Pride and Success

Posted on July 2nd, 2010

So magnificent, so beautiful, so full of inspiration and pride, it looks as though it was Heaven sent. The other day I was invited to take a tour of the new Aviva Stadium and all the facilities. The tour took about 1 hour to complete, but I have to admit the memory will last a very, very long time. It is such a magnificent architectural achievement, and I really congratulate the Architectural, Design and Engineering teams for realising such a wonderful stadium. Countless dreams may perhaps be won and lost here, but what an arena for Irish Rugby and Football Fans. What a feast of excitement and pride awaits not to mention what will surely be a gladitorial like atmosphere for visiting teams. Can’t wait for them new dreams and new memories… 

See Better. Feel Better. Work Better.

Posted on April 11th, 2010

An important optional element of the bi-annual eye check-up and vision testing at vision express, is Retinal photography. This involves the Optomerist taking a detailed but fascinating photograph of each eye. The photographs are then compared to previous records and enable the Optomerist to make a clinical assessment as to the health and condition of my eyes. I was delighted that the normal excellent customer service experience at vision express also enabled me to obtain copies of both photographs.  I am delighted that the test results confirmed that the general health and condition of my eyes was in fact in very good order.  Seeing better, feeling better might help me to work better! 

LEFT EYE

RIGHT EYE

New season – new schemes

Posted on February 15th, 2010

Well as we enter the latter half of February, we surely say farewell to the previous season of short days and long shadows and look forward with renewed optimism to the new season. I’ve noticed that the interest in ‘Growing your own’ continues to grow in popularity both as a hobby but also as an integral aspect of new garden design. Ahead of posting updates on our new projects, I will endeavour to offer some advice on useful aspects of growing your own vegetables and perhaps new crops to try?

In the meantime here’s looking forward to the new Spring and more opportunities to devising interesting and pleasing garden schemes.

Something to remember

Posted on December 11th, 2009

Remember landscaping is all about creative and constructive teamwork!

As we approach the end of another year, I would like to remember with sincere thanks the support and encouragement we have enjoyed from all of our clients which have been wonderful to work with and for. Yes it has been a challenging but busy year, and yes at times we seemed to have had endless terrible weather, but good fortune continues to come our way. 

Our collective efforts as a team continue to impress, excite and achieve. It is most satisfying to be part of such a committed team which undertakes all landscaping projects with enthusiasm, professionalism and great pride. Well done guys, and here’s looking forward to a new year and 2010.

Trapp’s Trap – more kicks than tricks

Posted on November 14th, 2009

OK so here we are again and in a place we didn’t think we’d be? But just like other times, we are rightfully here nonetheless. Well done to Giovanni Trappatoni and the Irish squad for their fantastic achievement in getting thus far in the World Cup qualifiers. But with only 180 minutes away from potentially booking a place in next year’s World Cup in South Africa, we are full of hope and pray that Trapp and his team will banish les Bleus tonight at Croke Park. 

Go on ye good things and give us all something to really cheer about and relieve us all from some of the constant doom gloom that has all been so pervasive in this great country of ours. IRELAND!IRELAND!!IRELAND!!!

BLOOMING FLOWER POWER

Posted on May 22nd, 2009

For the third consecutive year we are participating in the Bloom Garden Festival. Each year we have increased our presence and this year is no exception. We have increased our display area because we have many more products to showcase and build on our earlier successes.  Design will continue to be an integral aspect of all our work and this year we will be showcasing a range of products designed to inspire and indeed make life more enjoyable.

Our stand (Stand Nr 35, 36 and 37) will be located in the Outdoor Retail Area. Come along and see great design, great detail, and fabulous garden features. Amongst the products on display will be TITAN Stainless Steel Water Features, Figurative Bronze Garden Sculpture, Victorian Summerhouse, Deroma Planters and many will be delighted to know that we will also have our incredible iconic garden furniture including the ORB (Single and Double) Swing Seat, Classic Park Bench, Hammock and much more.

We will also be announcing some fabulous and unbeatable promotional offers including featuring the unbeatable innovative cordless garden products from Bosch (Ciso – the world’s first cordless secateur an as well as Isio – the most compact lightweight trimmer with interchangeable blades for trimming hedge/topiary and grass edges). 

Isio featuring hedge trimmer blade

Isio with special blade for neat grass edges

Ciso - the world's first cordless secateurs

The Time for new memories?

Posted on February 26th, 2009

Many of us I’m sure can recall events growing up in the Family garden, whether as very young children or young adolescents observing or actively taking part in casual but warm family discussions. We can recall many occasions shared and enjoyed talking with or more likely listening to our  Grandparents or indeed our Parents reminiscing about earlier times. Even for ‘non-garden lovers’, the garden has always been a central area in many of our lives where belief, values and memories are exchanged, discussed and indeed shared. 

Of course for some the garden provides a great opportunity in which to indulge in love of plants or favourite hobby, but for many the garden is most likely an area we revere more as a retreat or sanctuary from which allows us momentarily at least to escape everyday life? A place which is often close to our heart and closely associated with Home, warmly familiar but an environment in which we enjoy the reassuring atmosphere of a secured and familiar ambience.

Occasionally our busy lives might remind us that this area which we call garden, is much more than simply a collage of hard and soft landscaping elements. Just as the cliched expression succinctly advises us,  ‘take time to smell the roses’,  the garden offers us the potential pleasure of leisure, but more importantly perhaps, an area in which to share and remind ourselves of past memories.

The next time we are in the garden, why not try to find the time for new memories?

No matter how

Posted on January 23rd, 2009

I don’t know about you, but I think January is probably the worst month of the year. No it has nothing to do with the constant barrage of reports we’ve had to endure telling us just how bad everything thing had become including recession, depression, bad banking, toxic debt, rising unemployment etc etc. No, it has nothing to do with any of that, but simply being the first month that immediately follows the euphoric period around the Christmas break?

Whatever and no matter how bad things might become, there will be people who will continue to enjoy gardening and perhaps even more than ever. Whilst some reporters make comparisons to previous calamatous economic periods, pre-War, post-War, the Great Depression etc, then and probably and more so now, new people will be inspired to seek out the comfort and pleasures of gardening. Some may be novice gardeners perhaps, but who among us was not there before? The more experienced and dedicated gardeners might now be re-discovering the pleasure and satisfaction of growing fruit and vegetables. Others might be motivated take up gardening to help combat climate change, whilst others will be harnessed by the need to sustain one’s own existence.

My early gardening experiences were spent watching my Grandfather work his vegetable garden, later my parents provided me with similar experiences, little did I realise at the time that in among those cabbages and cauliflowers is where I would discover the origin of my interest and passion for gardening.

If 2009 is to be a tough year and many people are anxious and worried, let’s take a moment to step back and take a long deep breath. Remember nothing will last forever ourselves and economic upturns or downturns included. So let’s enjoy ourselves and re-discover the simple pleasures that life has to offer. A great place to start is in the garden. We sometimes make jokes about how someday we’ll be pushing up the daisies, so before it’s not too late, let’s take some time to enjoy the daisies while we can still remember what it feels like to enjoy oneself. No room for negativity no matter how.

Wet’n'Wild after Plan Expo

Posted on November 10th, 2008

Well the PlanExpo event got off to a very slow start, and many exhibitors were left on Tuesday wondering if things could get any worse.
Wednesday brought a modest increase in visitor levels and Thursday was very busy. Overall one would have to be happy with the overall visitor numbers, certainly quality of visitors was good. We exhibited at Plan Expo to launch our new range of stainless steel Water features, which were received very well. Not surprising there was a tremendous response by Interior Designers and Architects. No point dwelling on negativity, what’s important is to remain focussed and positive and proactively generate awareness and stimulate market demand.

 After the show we dismantled our exhibits on Friday morning and it was back to the ‘day job’ and site duties by lunchtime on Friday. Weather has become very wet’n'wild and with less than 7 weeks to Christmas we’re under increasing pressure to complete projects before the Christmas break. I hope the weather holds up. Bookings for 2009 are up on 2008, which is really encouraging.   

Finally, can I acknowledge and express our sincere thanks to everyone who visited our stand at Plan Expo, and offer my apologies for the
temporary unavailability of our online Shop due to technical upgrade work. We will of course reply by email to all requests for product information. For those people who were unable to visit Plan Expo, here are some photos of some of our new stainless steel water features:

TITAN 5

TITAN 8

TITAN 3

Body and Soul

Posted on August 22nd, 2008

Really hoping for a big improvement in the weather ahead of our participation at Body & Soul at Electric Picnic, which takes place at Stradbally Hall, Co Laois, 29-31 August. We’ll be exhibiting a range of garden products including the iconic ORB Swing Seats, a fantastic freestanding Hammock, sturdy but comfortable Garden Benches and Beehive Composters.

But honestly we’re not worried about the weather but really excited about what is sure to be a fantastic and memorable event. Most certainly the potential to be the most interesting promotional activity we’ve participated in to date. So if you are coming, be sure to call by, you can try out our fantasic garden products whilst enjoying the overall ambience of what is surely a fantastic event within a fantastic setting.

What to expect ?

Well according to the organisers:

“Imagine a breathing, living, pulsating, nature inspired realm filled with beauty, art, performance, cutting edge theatre, holistic therapies, green workshops, sumptuous gardens, tipis & log fires, ambient bean bag lounging, acoustic vibes, night time installations, skilled artisans set free across the landscape to inspire and be inspired, an eclectically programmed chill stage featuring the best in folk, world, classical, electronic, reggae, roots and hip wiggling funk”
Incredible? Yes. Exciting? Most definitely! So for an embracing and creative experience we’re looking forward to making a small creative addition to this magical event.

For more on Body and Soul: http://www.bodyandsoul.ie/home/