Sue Townsend Garden Design

06/01/2026

Fancy a dip? The natural swimming pond has frozen over but there’s a little hole in the middle you could dive into… if you dare! We may get the sledgehammer out in the morning for an icy dip 🩵❄️❄️❄️🩵.

To the side of the natural swimming pond the experimental concrete /sand mounds still have plenty of interest including my home sown Sideritis scardica.

The aim of this part of the garden is to see how plants can cope with extreme conditions- no soil - no watering except when first planted - just sand and crushed concrete above our very sandy soil. The four mounds in the ‘concrete garden’ were created from the material excavated from a former ‘canal’ which we demolished and transformed into the natural swimming pond (first photo). There are huge boulders of concrete in the mounds which we couldn’t crush on site as they were reinforced with rebar - it was like planting up titchy tiny mountain sides hitting concrete boulders instead of stone when planting!

All plants went in bare root and were treated in different ways when planted to see how they would fare - one mound with mycorrhizal fungi, another dipped in home made compost and 2 others with nothing! It’s been fascinating seeing the results!

05/01/2026

My client captured beautifully the wonderful winter stems sizzling in the snow in the prairie garden in Yoxford, Suffolk.

27/09/2025

Thank you for organising a really informative two day symposium, Working with Water from engineering to ecology, on the challenges and benefits of using water in the landscape. My head is spinning from the wide range of useful information relayed by the speakers who included ecologists, horticulturists, water specialists, engineers and landscape architects. Each gave practical information on issues including amongst others, the role of water in maintaining biodiversity - Professor Juliet Osborne, maintaining water quality in swimming ponds , planting for water sensitive designs .dunnett; Suds Kevin Barton , flood resilient gardens and helpful pond planting tips from . The event was rounded off by the wonderful who gave a talk on the fantastic plant library and drought tolerant planting. I couldn’t leave without buying plants and seedlings (now potted up!) to trial in my own drought tolerant garden.

With climate change we must all be aware of how we can make our gardens more resilient for times of drought and flooding. This symposium provided useful strategies and insights on what we can do which I found really empowering.

14/09/2025

Autumnal scenes at Wolsey Farmhouse prairie garden which was opened for the first time for the NGS by my wonderful clients.

The garden just keeps on giving, taking on a different feel as the seasons roll on. In a month or so the firey autumn colours of the shrubs and trees will take centre stage contrasting with the buff and silver flower heads of the grasses and the skeletal stems and seed heads of perennials. These will stand through the winter and be cut back in spring when the new growth of perennials will start to emerge and a vibrant spring and summer colour palette takes over (see previous posts).

The central spiral of Pennisetum Fairy Tails encloses a calming lawn area to anchor you into the space. On the outer edges of the prairie garden, sinuous native hedges act as a windbreak to the harsh winds and a gap leads through to a mown path through the wildflower meadow to the shepherds hut.

Thank you so much to everyone who came to enjoy the garden - my clients and I were thrilled with the turnout and all the lovely comments. It was lovely to meet so many of you!

15/07/2025

Please help Woottens of Wenhaston our wonderful local nursery get a new water supply or a whole host of rare and beautiful plants including stunning historic and rarely grown bearded irises, national collection of Pelargoniums and others are at risk! We live in the driest county of the country and they have lost access to a borehole belonging to a neighbouring farm that is being sold - they only have enough water to keep the plants alive for a few weeks and it is hot! Please donate to help dig a borehole or help them out by buying plants! This nursery needs to be saved!

Our Story We are Gill and Jen, two dedicated women running Woottens Pla… Gillian Morris needs your support for No Water, No Woottens - Help Us Dig a Borehole