Touch Landscapes Awarded Best Of Houzz 2016

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Over 35 Million Monthly Unique Users Nominated Best Home Building, Renovating and Design Professionals in the UK and Around the World

London, UK, Monday 8th February 2016 – Kingston-upon-Thames based Touch Landscapes has won “Best Of Customer Service” on Houzz®, the leading online platform for home renovation and design. The successful garden and landscape design practice was selected by the 35 million plus monthly unique users that comprise the Houzz community, from among more than one million active home building, renovating and design industry professionals.

The Best Of Houzz is awarded annually in three categories: Design, Customer Service and Photography. Customer Service honours are based on several factors, including the number and quality of client reviews a professional received in 2015. A “Best Of Houzz 2016” badge will appear on winners’ Houzz profiles, as a sign of their commitment to excellence. These badges help homeowners identify popular and top-rated home professionals in every metropolitan area on Houzz.

“We are delighted to have received this top accolade. It demonstrates both the popularity of our garden and landscape design services in the Houzz community and our commitment to first-class customer service” commented Georgina Chahed, founder and principle garden designer at Touch Landscapes.

“Anyone building, renovating or decorating looks to Houzz for the most talented and service-oriented professionals” said Andrew Small, managing director of Houzz UK. “We’re so pleased to recognise Touch Landscapes, voted one of our “Best Of Houzz” professionals by our enormous community of homeowners and design enthusiasts actively renovating and decorating their homes.”

To find out more about Touch Landscapes’ garden and landscape design services Tel: 07872 590303 Email: info@touchlandscapes.com visit: www.touchlandscapes.com or follow Touch Landscapes on Houzz at: www.houzz.com/pro/touchlandscapes

ENDS

For media enquiries, please contact Georgina Chahed principal garden designer at Touch Landscapes on Tel: 07872 590303 or Email: info@touchlandscapes.com

Notes for editors

About Touch Landscapes
Based in Kingston-upon-Thames, Touch Landscapes designs exquisite gardens and landscapes for domestic and commercial clients. Offering a range of services from consultancy to complete project management, Touch Landscapes helps clients realise the potential of their outdoor space, creating gardens and landscapes that reflect their personality and practical requirements. In 2015 Touch Landscapes scooped a silver Royal Horticultural Society award for its show border ‘The Teacup Garden’ at BBC Gardeners’ World Live. www.touchlandscapes.com

About Houzz
Houzz is the leading platform for home renovation and design, providing people with everything they need to improve their homes from start to finish – online or from a mobile device. From decorating a small room to building a custom home and everything in between, Houzz connects millions of homeowners, home design enthusiasts and home improvement professionals across the country and around the world. With the largest residential design database in the world and a vibrant community empowered by technology, Houzz is the easiest way for people to find inspiration, get advice, buy products and hire the professionals they need to help turn their ideas into reality. Headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, Houzz also has international offices in London, Berlin, Sydney, Moscow and Tokyo. Houzz and the Houzz logo are registered trademarks of Houzz Inc. worldwide.

February 8, 2016

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RHS Silver Medal for Touch Landscapes at BBC Gardeners’ World Live

Show visitors enjoying The Teacup Garden
Show visitors enjoying The Teacup Garden

Designed by Georgina Chahed of Touch Landscapes, The Teacup Garden has been awarded a silver medal at BBC Gardeners’ World Live.

Inspired by the theme the ‘Industrial Heritage of the West Midlands’, in her first Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) display Georgina has delivered a breath-taking subtropical border. The Teacup Garden contains a sleek contemporary water feature set on sandstone, enveloped by bold architectural foliage and vibrant blooms.

Georgina Chahed showing her RHS award
Georgina Chahed showing her RHS award

On receiving her prestigious RHS medal, Georgina enthused: “All the advance planning and minute attention to detail has really paid off; the garden looks beautiful and the award is the icing on the cake. I’d like to express my gratitude to our volunteers, suppliers and everyone who has supported my journey along the way.”

Georgina wanted to convey a sense of excitement in the border and show that even with a small space, a lot can be achieved. The border takes inspiration from the rich heritage of Wedgwood and celebrates the legacy of the master potters who made their name in the West Midlands.

Exotic gardens typically look their best in late summer so the challenge was to source plants which peak in June, whilst also complementing the Jasperware inspired blue and white colour scheme. The plant list comprises a winning combination of hardy and tender exotics, and familiar garden favourites suited to the same conditions, such as ferns, heucheras and hostas.

Eclectic planting: ferns, heucheras and hostas on The Teacup Garden
Eclectic planting: ferns, heucheras and hostas on The Teacup Garden

To find out more about Touch Landscapes’ garden and landscape design services telephone: 07872 590303 email: info@touchlandscapes.com or visit: www.touchlandscapes.com

June 18, 2015

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Call for Volunteers!

Show presenter Monty Don with visitors at BBC Gardeners' World Live
Show presenter Monty Don with visitors at BBC Gardeners’ World Live

It is eight weeks to BBC Gardeners’ World Live today where we will be unveiling our first Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) display, The Teacup Garden.

If you would like to help out with planting or greeting visitors at the NEC on any day from Saturday 6 June to Sunday 14 June, please get in touch. We have spaces for three more volunteers on our roster.

Shopping for plants at BBC Gardeners' World Live
Shopping for plants at BBC Gardeners’ World Live

We’ll shout you lunch and give you access to the show on the day/s you are able to help. This is a fantastic opportunity to enjoy the buzz and camaraderie of an RHS garden show and get a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes!

Telephone Georgina on 07872 590303 or email info@touchlandscapes.com to get involved.

April 16, 2015

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Subtropical drama in a teacup unveiled by newcomer at BBC Gardeners’ World Live

BBCGWL 2015 Visual 4
The Teacup Garden

Newcomer to the world of garden design, Georgina Chahed will be realising her vision of a subtropical border entitled ‘The Teacup Garden’ at BBC Gardeners’ World Live (11-14 June 2015). Georgina Chahed set up her practice Touch Landscapes in December 2013 and the Teacup Garden will be her first Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) display.

Beating off competition from rivals, the design has been given the green light by show organisers, the RHS. Working to the category theme, the ‘Industrial Heritage of the West Midlands’, the design takes inspiration from the rich heritage of Wedgwood. Garden designer Georgina Chahed commented: “I wanted to bring a sense of excitement to my border and celebrate the legacy of the master potters who made their name in the West Midlands.

Centring around a teacup water feature and stone saucer, a distinctive blue and white colourway has been used, giving a nod to Josiah Wedgwood’s original Jasperware ceramic tea sets. Capitalising on this year’s trend for tropical plants, a blend of lush and subtropical plants will be used to soften the hard landscaping.

Georgina Chahed continued: “With exotic tea growing regions in mind, I will predominantly be using plants suited to slightly moist, fertile soils. By selecting the right plants and ones that suit a garden’s conditions and soil type, a tropical border can be incorporated into many UK gardens.”

Grasses and ferns will intermingle to fill the space, punctuated by vibrant purple and orange flowers, including hardy groundcover favourite Geranium ‘Rozanne’ (‘Gerwat’) and the majestic Canna ‘Phasion’ with its dazzling striped leaves. The evergreen variegated giant reed Arundo donax versicolor will lend movement and height to the space. Striking Musa basjoo and Trachycarpus fortunei specimen trees promise to add impact and structure to the border, elevating the planting to a whole new level.

Now in its 23rd year, BBC Gardeners’ World Live, held at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, is the largest lifestyle event in the UK, attracting around 100,000 visitors in June every year.

March 16, 2015

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How to Propagate Seeds

Cosmos and Sweetpeas at Petersham Nurseries
Cosmos and Sweetpeas at Petersham Nurseries

Now is the ideal time to propagate seeds so that you can plant out your seedlings from mid May onwards, when the likelihood of frost has passed. Following garden designer Georgina Chahed’s successful propagation of Cosmos and Marigold seeds last spring, here’s Touch Landscapes’ super easy six step guide…

1. Lay fine gravel in the bottom of a plant propagator tray.

2. Wet the gravel so the water comes just above the level of the gravel.

3. Spread seed compost in the seed tray, make it level and firm the compost slightly with another seed tray on top. Then remove the spare seed tray.

4. Make tiny drills (grooves) lengthways across the compost and lightly sprinkle seeds across the drills. Add a thin layer of compost to cover the seeds.

5. Fit the seed tray onto the bottom of the propagator, allowing water to filter through and moisten the soil above. Remove the seed tray when damp but not too wet. Drain the excess water off the bottom gravel tray and then place the compost tray back on to the damp gravel tray.

6. Place the propagator lid on to the bottom of the propagator and seed tray and leave the seeds to grow, checking on them every day to make sure they don’t dry out.

In a few weeks, we will update you on the progress of our own seeds!

 

March 5, 2015

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The Highs and Lows of the Sky Garden

London's Sky Garden
London’s Sky Garden

In Touch Landscapes’ latest blog, owner and garden designer Georgina Chahed takes a critical look at London’s newest public space

Officially opening to the public for the first time in January, I visited the Sky Garden last Monday, keen to explore the exotic planting. Located at the top of the Walkie Talkie at 20 Fenchurch Street, the Sky Garden boasts stunning 360 degree views of many of the capital’s most popular landmarks including the BT Tower, the Gherkin, the Shard and St Paul’s Cathedral.

The view is really the best thing about the Sky Garden. The press have only given lacklustre reviews of the space – disappointed that it isn’t the public park in the sky and that we’d all hoped for.

Yes, anyone can visit providing they’ve booked in advance and if you have an afternoon free and fancy a special meal in a unique location, then the Sky Garden’s Fenchurch Seafood Bar & Grill would certainly appeal.However, the thought of anyone taking their dog for a walk, going for a run or meeting friends for a picnic here seems absurd – even though this is the kind of normal behaviour you would expect in a public garden.

Fronds in high places
That said, organisations including landscape architects Gillespies, landscapers Willerby Landscapes, nursery Kelways and plant experts Kew have done well to meet the logistical and horticultural challenge of making this garden in the sky a reality.

The planting consists of two high banks of aeoniums, cycads, grasses, maidenhair ferns and tree ferns. There are pockets containing intimate seating areas but hopefully the plants will be allowed to fill in and bulk up over time to soften the corporate feel of the space and provide more of a feeling of enclosure.

The only way is up
In terms of endowing London with more green public spaces, the Sky Garden has turned out to be more of a sentiment than a solution. London may be geographically and metaphorically a million miles away from the acclaimed garden city of Singapore, but projects such as the Garden Bridge will do well to fuel our appetite for innovative and inclusive city gardens, offering hope for the future of urban garden planning in the UK.

Have you visited the Sky Garden yet and if so, what did you think? Please leave a comment, I’d love to know.

Touch Landscapes designs gardens with year round interest. Call 07872 590 303 or email info@touchlandscapes.com to discuss your requirements.

February 9, 2015

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Five Shrubs for Winter Interest

Hamamelis Jelena
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena’, image courtesy of the RHS

In the latest of garden designer Georgina Chahed’s blog posts, she highlights her top five woody plants for winter interest…

When light levels and temperatures plummet, colour, structure and texture are essential for making your garden sparkle. Bring vibrancy and intoxicating scents to your outdoor space in winter by introducing some of these star performers:

1. Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena’ (witch hazel)
A firm favourite, Jelena’s buttery autumn foliage makes way for spectacular citrus scented spidery orange flowers in winter. Great teamed with the equally architectural and colourful dogwood; which has a contrasting, upright habit.

2. Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’ (dogwood)
Slightly below the radar, dogwoods deserve much more attention from gardeners. With arresting ornamental stems, Sibirica produces red winter shoots and large leaves when pruned in summer. With its graceful variegated leaves, Cornus alba ‘Elegantissima’ is also worth considering.

3. Sarcococca hookeriana var. Digyna (sweet box)
Digyna is dense, with a spreading habit, glossy evergreen leaves and purple-green branches. It produces very fragrant creamy white flowers in February, followed by black fruit. Plump for this hardworking shrub and you’ll discover that it has plenty going for it, being both long flowering and hardy in winter weather.

4. Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’
Clusters of flowers open to pink heavenly scented winter blooms which last until spring. Daphnes are best situated in a sheltered spot and varieties such as Daphne odora are blessed with broad evergreen leaves too.

5. Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii ‘Profusion’ (Beautyberry)
I will never forget the first time I clapped eyes on Beautyberry in Bushy Park in Kingston – I went straight home and looked it up. With clusters of showy violet berries, this winter jewel shouts unapologetically, “Look at me!” Adorned with small lilac-pink flowers, its young purple lance shaped leaves turn rosy-pink in autumn. The shiny, vibrant fruits mean Profusion is ideal for placing centre stage, in front of a window. The berries also provide food for birds and animals. Cosset this diva with shelter and companions to pollinate her and you will be richly rewarded.

Remember to check that the eventual height and spread of your chosen shrub is appropriate for your garden. Also, be sure to select plants suitable for the soil type and horticultural conditions you have.

What are your favourite plants for winter interest? Leave a comment, I’d love to know.

Touch Landscapes designs gardens with year round interest. Call 07872 590 303 or email info@touchlandscapes.com to discuss your requirements.

January 5, 2015

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Top Tips for Planting Bulbs

Tulips at Petersham Nurseries
Tulips at Petersham Nurseries

In Touch Landscapes’ latest blog post, garden designer Georgina Chahed shares her tips on planting bulbs…

With summer now a distant memory, we turn our attention to preparing the garden for spring. A few weeks ago I was on my hands and knees in a garden in Kew, laying down wire mesh to ‘squirrel proof’ some crocus bulbs to protect them from hungry pests.

So, why did I go to all this trouble when I could have had my feet up with a cup of coffee instead? In short, bulbs are easy to grow and extremely versatile. They can be used to fill spaces before shrubs and perennials start to grow and are perfect for adding colour to spring borders. Bulbs can be layered in pots, planted at the base of a tree or naturalised in a lawn. Another joy of bulbs is unearthing new favourites – the pure white Narcissi Thalia and the extremely reliable Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ are two I can certainly recommend.

If you’ve never tried bulbs before and don’t know where to start, fear not as help is at hand. Here are my top tips for planting bulbs so that you can be sure of an abundant display:

Timing is everything
Purchase bulbs about a week before you plan to plant them. The warmth of your home may lead them to sprout prematurely, so it’s best not to leave them lying around too long. Plant autumn flowering bulbs such as nerines by late summer and daffodils, crocuses and hyacinths at the end of September. Alliums, crocosmia and lilies should be embedded in September and October and tulips in November.

Ace of spades
So what about technique, “How do I plant them?” Dig a hole with a bulb planter or trowel, place your bulbs in the soil with the shoot facing up and plant at two to three times their depth. Space at least twice their width, then replace the soil you removed and firm it in gently. Finally of course, water them.

Be generous
And finally, don’t scrimp on your bulbs, make an impact by using 25-50 bulbs for a good display. Also, select ones which grow to different heights and aim for successional planting whereby different bulbs flower at different times – prolonging the colour in your garden.

As I recently discovered on my allotment, over time, some bulbs naturally produce baby bulbs. These can be removed when lifted for storage and planted or potted on to create more plants.

With a growing penchant for tulips, I’ve selected Angelique, Apricot Beauty, Candy Prince and Spring Green for a double border which I will plant up in November. Get ready for a riot of pretty pastels when we share our photos with you next spring.

What bulbs will you be planting for spring? Leave a comment on the blog, I’d love to hear about it.

October 13, 2014

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Touch Landscapes Celebrates Petersham House Garden Open Day

Petersham House's revered double borders
Petersham House’s revered double borders

Petersham House garden, the private garden of Petersham Nurseries’ owners Francesco and Gael Boglione opened to the public today to raise funds for registered charity, the National Gardens Scheme. Having recently gardened in the grounds and nursery, Touch Landscapes’ owner and principal designer Georgina Chahed attended the day, joining former colleagues from Petersham Nurseries.

Dozens of visitors admired the 150″ long double borders full of early flowering perennials and colour from the abundant spring flowering bulbs including tulips and Narcissus. Visitors were also granted exclusive access to the productive vegetable garden with chickens.

Garden designer from Touch Landscapes, Georgina Chahed commented: “I am thrilled that Petersham House has once again opened its doors to the general public. Petersham House garden is just one of many outstanding gardens included in the National Gardens Scheme that offer visitors the opportunity to relax and take in their breath-taking surroundings, whilst gaining valuable design inspiration and planting ideas”.

Visitors were able to purchase key plants featured in the Petersham border from the adjoining Petersham Nurseries and recreate the magic of the architectural planting scheme in their own garden.

Petersham House garden will also be open to the public on Sunday 20 July 2014. Founded in 1927, the National Gardens Scheme opens thousands of exceptional gardens throughout England and Wales to raise money for nursing and caring charities. Most of the gardens are private and not normally open to visitors.

For advice on garden design and styling, visit www.touchlandscapes.com or email info@touchlandscapes.com

April 27, 2014

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