Apperley Garden Services

This is a garden I designed and planted last year. Plants are really filling out now :)

Swipe to see how I've pruned this unproductive tangled Forsythia.

This shrub flowers on wood grown the previous year. Pruning now, means that the plant will have time to grow through this coming summer, and develop all of next years flower buds for Spring 2023.

Forsythias are big plants, and ideally need space to grow their tall stems freely. This will show off their natural arching form give you an amazing burst of colour when it's really needed.

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The pics:

1 - It can be daunting when faced with something like this... but let's get in there and have a closer look.

2 - Forsythias are strong plants, and will become a real tangle if left unchecked. They also layer themselves to make new plants, so you end up with a real thickett.

3 - Here I pruned out all this weak, dead, old rubbish growth to start revealing the younger, more productive shoots.

4 - Removal of an old stem back to younger, healthy shoots.

5 - Removal of this older wood will reinvigorate the plant. More light will pe*****te down into the plant and encourage new shoots to sprout. By removing a 3rd of the older wood each year, we are keeping the plant young, by constantly renewing the older wood.

6 - Here is an example of that. A new shoot forming that will grow up through the lighter canopy and bear subsequent year's flowers.

7 - A much lighter, 'airier' looking plant, whose natural form has been considered and pruned to best show it off.

After tidying up I gave it a good drink, and a deep mulch with well rotted manure. This is provide some tlc in the coming weeks as it starts to regrow and develope new flower buds for next year.

Really looking forward to seeing this one develop.

Let me know if you have any questions :)

This is a quick sketch I did for a regular client of mine. I am trying to help them visualise a new planting proposal for their garden.

There is an existing pond at the bottom of the garden which is the main focal point. There is also a very stark timber fence line that runs all the way down to the pond. My idea is to break that vertical space up with some decent sized multistem trees and plant a border full of grasses and pollinators. This combination will soften the boundary and slow the eye down creating a calmer space.
There is a quarry local to the area too, so it would be great to get some larger pieces of stone in amongst it all!

Using the ipad to draw up a concept. Pleached crab apples provide screening from overlooking properties whilst giving height and structure to the garden. The planting is billowing, naturalistic and relaxed, and surrounds the lawn and decked area. I love this wrap around planting style, it's so immersive and allows you to get up close and personal with your garden.

This is a garden I designed and planted earlier this year. I will try and dig out a before picture as it is a huge change!

The brief was to soften a very square garden and to incorporate a vegetable growing area. My client also wanted a billowing whimsical planting style.

I started the design by cutting the lawn from a square into a circle and knew I had to create some nice deep borders to soften up those boundaries.

Next up was a curving deck area. Straight edges would jarr with everything else, so I came up with this shape to echo the lawn. Construction and framework design was carried out by .

The boundaries were painted a dark grey so they recede into the background and also give a fantastic backdrop to the planting.

Planting was also undertaken in lockdown so with everything being so scarce I filled two shopping trollies with 10ltr Ilex crenata at ASDA! I have planted them closely in groups of 6 which I will clip into pebble shapes over the years. This technique gave instant impact at a fraction of the price of a large topiary dome.

Today was my first visit back in a few months and I was so chuffed to walk around the corner and see this.

Decking is Antique Oak from
Plants from

Garry elliptica transformation. It was shading out the underplanting and my client was considering coppicing it and letting it regrow. It was quite dominating but I thought if I lifted the crown and thinned the top out, much more light would get through it. It now shows off it's characterful stems and allows my client so see the ferns and irises below. I'm really pleased with how this turned out. I used my .hq secateurs and shears and my Gomtaro to carry out the work. Great tools made this job fun and a piece of cake :)

Check out my video on pruning this espallier apple tree:)

https://youtu.be/5J1lYCSLrzI

Before and after of this wisteria. I've reduce the size a bit by thinning some really dense areas, and also given it it's traditional summer prune treatment.

Also filmed it and will try and get a video up on my YouTube channel ASAP.