ann-marie powell gardens

18/08/2026

Before the menu, the garden. Plants that inspire a kitchen. A kitchen that inspires the planting.

The Cosmos at Borde Hill Garden is Restaurant Isca 's aperitif garden, one of four quadrants in the walled garden our studio reimagined, each with a different flavour. Anchored by several Agriframes domes, the borders brimming with everything you see and everything you'll eat. Edimentals, chosen to do two things at once.

Within Isca's garden you'll find Glycyrrhiza glabra (liquorice), Drimys lanceolata 'Red Spice' (mountain pepper), Debregeasia edulis 'Elite', and Zanthoxylum simulans (Sichuan pepper). The menu and the border, the same conversation but whole new food stories.

Recently featured in both The Telegraph and The Independent. Full project story at the link below.

https://www.ann-mariepowell.com/walled-kitchen-garden-at-borde-hill/

14/08/2026

Late summer's palette deepens as the light turns golden, and everything that's been working quietly in the background suddenly muscles in and becomes the whole show.

Hot, saturated hues: copper orange, regal purple, vivid crimson. Grasses backlit by evening sun. Seed heads building structure while flowers are still coming.

The Late Summer chapter of A Year of Colour covers this season fully, with combinations including the wafting meadow-like drift of dill with Pennisetum orientale 'Flamingo' and ornamental clover, the theatrical spike combination of Verbascum 'Sixteen Candles' with Verbena bonariensis and Agastache 'Blackadder', and the copper and amethyst pairing of Echinacea, Betonica and bronze fennel that I keep returning to year after year.

All photographs by Julie Skelton, taken in my own garden across a full year. There's a combination in here for every single month. No gaps, no guesswork.

Order your copy — wherever you are in the world:

UK & Europe: https://geni.us/Ayearofcolour

US & Canada: https://geni.us/Ayearofcolor

12/08/2026

Colour. Conversation. 29th September 2026 at Rutland Nursery in Rutland.

I'll be at Rutland Nursery's The Bothy in conversation with Chris Young for their Authors in Conversation series — talking about A Year of Colour, the planting combinations behind it, and how to use colour in the garden with real confidence, whatever size or space you're working with.

Chris trained as a landscape architect and has spent over 25 years at the heart of horticultural publishing, as former editor of The Garden for the RHS and now Consultant Gardening Publisher for DK. An hour with him asking the questions is a very good morning.

Doors open 10:20am. In conversation 10:30am, followed by Q&A and book signing. Out by noon.

Tickets here: https://tickets.rutlandnursery.co.uk/event-tickets/80088?catID=65847

I'd love to see you there.

View Authors in Conversation: Ann-Marie Powell -29th September 10:30am-12:00 from Rutland Nursery.

10/08/2026

Two pieces of good news about Shepherd's Cottage in Stoughton, Chichester.

The garden we designed for Jackie and Alan Sherling features in Sussex Life this week, in a piece adapted from Clare Foggett's new book, Beauty and Abundance: British Cottage Gardens (Quadrille). Clare has been editor of The English Garden magazine since 2015, and Jonathan Buckley's photographs are beautiful throughout.

It's a garden that's evolved constantly over ten years, from the curved yew hedging to the Purbeck stone terrace to the meadow planting at the base of that south-facing slope. The kind of garden that keeps becoming.

Photography: Jonathan Buckley
Full article:

06/08/2026

We're in House & Garden Magazine today.

Katrina Harper-Lewis has written a considered piece on gardens that cope with heat, and we were asked to contribute.

Our core argument? a tree is the single best cooling tool you have. Hard paving acts as a slow storage heater, releasing absorbed heat through the evening. Loose, layered planting keeps air moving and soil covered and cool.

The photograph of our garden, taken by Julie Skelton, is used in the piece to illustrate the section on avoiding hard landscaping.

Worth reading in full at: https://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/article/how-to-turn-your-garden-into-a-cooling-oasis

Photography: Julie Skelton

17/07/2026

We don't just design gardens. We design how a building meets its landscape.

We design for the people who will use that space every day, and for the ecology that should thrive there long after the scaffolding comes down. Because a great landscape isn't just beautiful — it works. For wildlife, for wellbeing, for the long term.

Our work spans public realm, hotel and spa landscape design, heritage sites, corporate grounds, healthcare facilities, and charitable commissions. We come in not as a bolt-on, but as a fully integrated part of the design team, from early concept through to completion.

We support BREEAM assessments, biodiversity net gain requirements, sustainable drainage, and planning submissions. We work in Vectorworks and coordinate with architects, engineers, and heritage consultants across the UK.

Our portfolio includes the World Food Garden and Wildlife Garden at RHS Wisley, the Great Fountain Garden at Hampton Court Palace with Historic Royal Palaces, and the award-winning Cottonmill Spa at Sopwell House, recognised by the Society of Garden Designers with their Best Commercial Landscape or Garden Award.

Bold. Vibrant. Biodiverse. Built to last.

If your project needs this kind of thinking, get in touch.

+44 (0) 1730 825650 | [email protected]

15/07/2026

The right person is worth waiting for.

We're looking for a Senior Garden Designer or Landscape Architect to join the studio in Petersfield: a project-leading role, from brief through to construction, with genuine creative ownership and direct client contact.

Applications now close Friday 24th July 2026.

Full details and how to apply: https://www.ann-mariepowell.com/ampg-is-recruiting/

07/07/2026

Penny Walker joined us in May 2022 as a Junior Landscape Architect. She is now Landscape Architect at AMPG, and we don't talk about our team nearly enough.

Her backstory: RHS Bronze at 14 at Gardeners' World Live. RHS Silver-Gilt the following year at Hampton Court Flower Show. Both whilst still at school. First Class BA and a Masters in Landscape Architecture, dissertation focused on climate change in designed urban spaces. Pro Landscaper 30 Under 30, Class of 2023.

In the studio, Penny works on a number of our key projects, producing construction drawings and planting plans in Vectorworks, developing designs across all stages, and liaising with the ecologists, heritage consultants, planners, architects and other professionals who form the wider consultant team. She sketches beautifully. She asks the right questions. She cares about getting things right.

One of the real privileges of running a studio is watching people grow into their potential.

We are very glad she is here.

01/07/2026

Country Living magazine gave A Year of Colour an eight-page extract in their August issue! I'm hugely grateful for such a generous feature. Thank you to the team there.

WHAT A GREAT START TO THE MONTH!

They featured three combinations, all from my own garden: Vertical Voltage for full-sun borders, Ferns & Flaming Torches for that tricky spot where light shifts, and Copper & Amethyst for the glorious informality of late summer.

These aren’t colours from a paint chart. They’re bold, unapologetic, and full of life for pollinators.

All 40 combinations and the full planting detail are in A Year of Colour (Frances Lincoln, £25). Photography by Julie Skelton.

Grab your copy:

UK readers → https://geni.us/Ayearofcolour
US readers → https://geni.us/Ayearofcolor

Photography .
With thanks to Country Living Magazine, Frances Lincoln and Quarto Books US and quartobooksuk.
..

30/06/2026

A handful of photographs from a book brimful of plant combinations.

Julie Skelton photographed them; I wrote the reasoning behind every one. In my own Hampshire garden. Not a show garden. The real thing, in real weather and Julie's photos show real borders that have grown into themselves over time.

Though I've cared for my garden for years, it took a full eighteen months to put the book together. To make sure it covered the full year.

A Year of Colour has been a labour of love. I hope it’s as useful as it was to write!

You can get your copy via the links below. And thank you. Your support means more than you know:

UK stockists: https://geni.us/Ayearofcolour

US stockists: https://geni.us/Ayearofcolor

Photography: Julie Skelton. Published by Frances Lincoln.