Welcome to our blog 🙂

 Join us for garden design ideas from the experts, garden landscaping inspiration and more on our very own garden design journey!

You can see the finished results here on How We Created Our Jungle Garden Escape!

As we’ve been spending more time at home and the weather has seen moments of gloriousness (who wants that heatwave back?!) here at Divine Savages we’ve found our fingers getting greener by the day and have discovered our inner Monty Don. As some of you may know, last summer we installed our garden studio which was the first stage of our "Living & Working at Home" plan, and in the last couple of months we have been putting the next steps into action which has been really exciting.

For those of us lucky enough to have outside space, these recent months have been a good time to focus on making it a fun and vibrant space to spend time in. We all use our gardens for different things; I love to have a morning brew in the garden to start the day off and Tom loves to have an Aperol spritz or three on a warm summer’s evening...you’ll find me there too in that case!

However you use your garden, now is the time to embrace it. Our own garden design project has been a learning curve and we wanted to share our journey with you so far and how we were inspired.

As I mentioned earlier our garden studio was built last year, so what was next? Working on the inside, let’s be honest – the fun part! We decided to opt for bespoke storage (individualism is our middle name) with made to measure cabinets hidden within a wall of panelling to help maximise every last inch.

The details:

Cabinetry built by SP Set Building, painted in Farrow and Ball Off Black

Parquet Flooring in Herringbone layout - 3 Oak Flooring (press discount)

Vertical Blinds - Hillary’s (gifted)

Vintage architect drawers from The Retro Bee

The Garden

Being relative newbies to garden design we needed some help and guidance to find our way, and Sarah at The Garden Creative was our answer. She gave us ideas on how we could best use our space and had all the expertise on how to maximise its potential. We have a lot of jungle plants already, so we'll be planting up more palms, bamboo scented climbers and ferns to create a tropical little corner in South London. We’ll also be creating a flexible decking area that we can use for entertaining. We’ll be using composite decking which is low maintenance and really hard wearing, perfect for doubling up as a dancefloor! Here's a look at Sarah's design...

In between potting the plants and pulling the weeds I sat down with Sarah to chat garden design.

How would someone find their garden style?
Firstly look at your interior style at home as your garden should follow that. If you love vintage finds, extend this to your garden with some beautiful architectural salvage filled with lots of different plants, and choose materials with different textures to build up an eclectic feeling. Similarly, if your style is more minimal and contemporary, stick with large bold areas of planting in the garden. Use lots of the same plants in a block rather than a mixture and concentrate on a tight palette of materials for the hard landscaping.
If you’re not quite sure what your own style is, look at the era of your house and follow this through to the garden!

What are we going to be seeing a lot more of in gardens over the summer of 2020?
People are spending a lot more time in their gardens, and many are considering working from home in the future, so garden buildings and offices are going to be BIG for the next few seasons. A garden building can be a great asset to a home and can double-up as a teenager’s den, a music room, an artist’s studio, the list is endless.

Top 3 things a garden should never live without?
A Tree - they provide shade in the summer, a place to hang a hammock, bring birds to the garden and host millions of insects, not to mention carbon-offsetting! Choosing a large specimen or a fast-growing tree like a Eucalyptus means that you can enjoy the benefits within a few years.
A waterbutt - save water and your water bill by reusing rainwater. Slimline ones are available if space is tight or reuse old water tanks and cleaned oil drums.
Flowers for pollinating insects - if you only have a small space, grow from seed or bulbs in pots or buy small plants at the beginning of the summer. Three easy ones to grow are Calendula, Lavender and Rosemary.

Best gardening tip?
Visit a local nursery or garden centre every couple of months and buy something that is flowering, that way you’ll have something that’s not only beautiful but benefits the bees in every season! Flowers that bees love are either flat and open or tubular, look out for signs which will tell you which ones are bee-friendly or make friends with the staff, they are always very knowledgeable.

If you don't have a garden, any tips for how you can add some outdoors inside?
Herbs, tomatoes and even cucumbers can be grown from seed in pots on a sunny windowsill. Elsewhere in the house invest in houseplants, many large-leaved plants love the humidity of the bathroom or a spot with indirect light. Cactus and succulents love a dry spot with lots of sun. Think about hanging plants from bannisters, shower rails and ceilings or trailing plants from the top shelves of bookcases, as well as having some large plants in pots on the floor.

There is so much garden love out there, you can find a tonne of inspiration for your outside space whether it’s big or small....here are some of our favourites:

@myformalgarden – Vas is not only a wizard with the scissors (he’s my hairdresser) he’s also a dab hand with the secateurs! Check out his beautifully designed garden and many helpful tips and tutorials in his Stories

@mygardenthismonth – excellent garden hashtag curating loads of inspirational accounts from all over the world. Photo: @oldcountrygarden

@thenunheadgardener – our local urban oasis full of gorgeous plants for inside and out. We really miss wandering round here so hoping they can open again soon, in the meantime they’re offering local SE London delivery

Thanks for reading, and if you want to keep up to date with our garden journey just head on over to our IG.

Be bold, be brave and stay happy!

Jamie & Tom