PLANTING DESIGN
Naturalistic planting design & soft landscaping in London.
Transform your garden through planting.
You don’t always need to redesign your entire garden to completely change how it feels. Gold & Wild creates naturalistic planting schemes and soft landscaping across London, transforming lawns, tired borders and architect-designed spaces into rich, dynamic gardens that evolve through the seasons.
Whether the structure of your garden is already there or the planting simply isn’t doing it justice, we can bring it to life.
IS IT RIGHT FOR YOUR GARDEN?
A planting-focused project can be ideal when:
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Your hard landscaping already works
The patios, paths and structure are good, but the garden lacks life and character.
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You’ve recently renovated or built your home
Architects and contractors have completed the structural landscaping, but the space needs planting to soften it and bring everything together.
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Your garden is dominated by lawn
We can transform simple lawns and borders into something richer, more interesting and more immersive.
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Your existing planting feels tired
Established beds can be rethought with more colour, texture, movement and seasonal interest.
By working with what’s already good, we can focus your investment on the part of the garden that can make the biggest difference.
WHERE GOLD & WILD SHINES
Planting isn’t an afterthought for us. It’s at the heart of what we do.
With more than 20 years’ experience, RHS Gold Award-winning garden designer Jon Davies has developed a deep understanding of how plants behave together: which thrive in particular conditions, which are resilient, how they compete and coexist, and how combinations change throughout the year.
We use that knowledge to create generous, naturalistic planting with layers of colour, texture, height and movement.
The result should feel abundant and instinctive, but there’s experience behind every decision.
Our planting schemes are planned carefully, but not confined to paper.
We start by understanding the garden itself — its light, aspect, soil, architecture and existing landscape — alongside the atmosphere you want to create. Together, we’ll explore the colours, textures and feeling you’re drawn to. Jon then develops the plant palette and overall direction, supported by sketches and visual references where appropriate.
But some of the most important decisions happen in the garden. Rather than mechanically installing individual plants according to a rigid grid, Jon and the team lay out and compose the planting on site — adjusting repetition, rhythm, height, texture and the relationships between plants before they go into the ground.
It’s a balance of planning and instinct, refined through years of creating naturalistic gardens.
LIVING WITH IT
Beautiful planting without endless upkeep.
Abundant planting can look complex without necessarily demanding constant attention. Plant selection is key — we consider how plants perform together, their resilience, the conditions they prefer and the interest they provide across different seasons. This allows us to create dynamic planting that develops naturally while keeping ongoing care practical.
No garden is maintenance-free, and naturalistic planting still benefits from knowledgeable care. Where you’d like ongoing support, our garden maintenance and aftercare team can continue looking after the planting as it establishes and evolves.
The finished garden shouldn’t look like a collection of individual plants. It should feel like a landscape.
Planting design & soft landscaping across London
We create planting schemes, naturalistic planting designs and soft landscaping throughout London, with extensive experience across North and East London, including Hackney, Islington, Highgate and St John’s Wood. From transforming a simple lawn and tired borders to completing the landscape around a newly renovated home, we can help you discover how much your garden can change through planting alone.
BRING YOUR GARDEN TO LIFE
If the bones of your garden are already there, you may not need to start again.
Tell us about your garden and how you’d like it to feel. We’ll help you understand what’s possible with planting.