A very exciting & pretty huge new landscape design project

5th May 2026

Sorry I have been AWOL for so long but I’ve been working on a very exciting & pretty huge landscape design project that is taking up all my time. I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to tell anyone either whilst contracts were being written so I’ve kept it under my hat…. The main photo is of our paddock here in France where I’ve been working for the past week. It has been glorious over here so I’ve managed to mow the pathways back in. The multi-stemmed Acacia trees are all self seeded. I kept them as they look so …

A birds eye view!

2nd May 2024

I had a busy day yesterday with several meetings. The third one was to present the next phase of a very large scheme in the Chilterns – see Pip’s Place in my portfolio. I arrived & all was looking lovely as the garden was coming back to life after a horrible Winter… I arrived to hear a real racket but couldn’t see anything so went to meet Ginni via the back door. Look at what I saw! A bright blue helicopter had landed on the back lawn. Doesn’t it look good with all the camassias! It transpired her gastro pub …

Designing my own gardens

16th October 2023

I do love a project! We have moved house several times over the years where we have gutted & redesigned the house & the garden too. It’s fun to design it all but I also really like to put my stamp on a place. Everyone has their own distinctive taste & style & I’m no exception. I thought I’d show you a few of my own gardens I’ve designed & built over the years… Henley on Thames We bought a townhouse right in the centre of Henley as we wanted to be able to walk everywhere & enjoy all that …

Designing a new topiary garden

31st March 2023

You might recognise this garden if you know my work…this is part of the Secret Garden at Pip’s Place. Have a look here – https://www.joannealderson.com/portfolio/large-gardens-estates/pips-place/. We bought the big taxus topiary beehives in Belgium a few years ago as part of phase 1 & now we are going to add to them. Ginni asked to meet up to discuss this garden & pondered making some changes. She told me how expensive it was to maintain with mowing etc & sadly all the Ilex crenata edging (supposedly the wonder plant replacement for buxus) had died! My immediate thought was to create …

News in February 2020

17th February 2020

2020 has been a great year so far. Firstly I’m very pleased to have been invited to be on The List by House & Garden. It’s a prestigious place to be & I am in impressive company so thank you very much House & Garden! I am also delighted to say I won the annual Houzz Best designer award 2020. It’s wonderful to open an email with exciting news so thank you to everyone at Houzz & all the people who follow my work there. Exciting news on the home front too – After two years of builders knocking our …

A French tale

27th May 2014

A French tale We’ve just returned from an eventful trip to Burgundy. The car died & we suffered a great deal of hassle but nevertheless, they are so right when they say how stylish the French are. Everywhere we went the landscape was so well considered & beautiful. My header photo is just typical of what I mean – four fabulous Acers mark the centre of the village & provide shade too for visitors & locals alike. Lines of poplars are everywhere which is of course classic French countryside but doesn’t it just look fabulous? We visited Fontenay Abbey built …

Chelsea Award Winning Garden Design