Plants & outdoors

Small, exposed, and worth the trouble

A balcony is the most demanding garden there is. Wind that would flatten a border, a weight limit you can’t ignore, and either full sun all day or none at all. Which is exactly why it repays proper planning.

Create Your Ambience
A modern courtyard garden with pale limestone paving, a built-in timber bench with cream cushions, timber slat screening and raised beds full of ferns, hostas, grasses and clipped box

Concept visual

I build the plan around those limits rather than fighting them. Planting that can take the wind and the drying out that comes with it, containers that won’t blow over, and a layout that leaves room for what a balcony is actually for, which is sitting on it.

Small spaces reward proper design more than large ones do, because every centimetre has to earn its place. You get the same planting palette, layout and sourcing list, worked at the scale you have.

Good for

  • A balcony currently holding a dead plant and a drying rack
  • A roof terrace too windy to enjoy
  • A back step you want to make into somewhere to sit

How it works

The same way, whatever the space.

1

Show me your space

Send over some photographs from your phone, or walk me round with a quick video if that’s easier, along with rough measurements and some honest answers about how you actually use the space. It takes about 20 minutes.

2

Review the concept

Within a week, I’ll add a concept board to , covering the direction, the colours, and the layout. Have a look through it and let me know what’s working for you and what isn’t.

3

Get your finished design

The final board, a layout drawn to scale, and a clickable list of recommended pieces and peat-free planting, all kept within your budget and sourced ethically where it matters.

Everything happens in writing, through , wherever you are in the UK. No calls to join and no meetings to arrange. Three rounds of changes are included, and every enquiry, concept and list comes from me, personally.

Plants & outdoors

Also in this part of the studio.

Garden & landscape eDesignView
Interior plant stylingView

Tell Rachel about your space.

Send some photos or a video and she will reply within a working day. An enquiry is simply a chance to see if you and Rachel are a good fit to work together.

Create Your Ambience