'It's so pretty IN FULL BLOOM'

Florist Deborah took a neglected back garden and turned it into a modern, country space filled with flowers

- MAXINE BRADY

After years of living in Brighton, we wanted a complete lifestyle change,’ explains Deborah, ‘so we sold our one-bedroom flat and moved out of the city where we could afford a house with a generous garden. We bought our new home from an elderly gentleman who had lived in the house his whole life. The property hadn’t been touched since the 1980s, so we had our work cut out.

‘Our plans included building an extension, plus adding a garden studio, so that I could use the space to host floristry workshops outside of the house. Though unkempt, the garden was in a better state than the rest of the house so we decided to keep what existing elements we could.

Planning the scheme

My idea was to transform the space into a modern, country garden. I’ve got a creative eye and to save money, I was keen to do as much of the work as possible. We kept what we could, including the cherry blossom tree in the middle of the lawn, and worked these existing features into the new design.

Creating a garden full of flowers and plants that I could use in my floristry work was a must, so the plan included widening the borders and planting flowers that would bloom all year long.

Prepping the space