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Lois O'connell

@loisoco

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Recent potted project looking swell.

Plants for sun, salt and wind. Pretty, low maintenance, with year round structure and few seasonal surprises.

I got the approval from Daisy Dog 🐶 by @loisoco

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25 days ago

A few snaps from a recently completed courtyard garden project. by @loisoco

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2 months ago

Our day in music 🤍 by @loisoco

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2 months ago

An exceptional day. 6.6.26

Mum made my dress. The flowers were all gathered from home, friends and family’s gardens. Close friends and local bands provided the music. Family baked cakes. Our toddler owned the stage during the ceremony. The speeches were back to back hilarious. Our guests arrived in the peak of the storm. The marquee only just stayed standing. The dance floor was full hours after carriages were called. Ollie and I didn’t know it was possible to enjoy a day so much. Thank you to everyone that came and contributed. It means the world.

@sugarandsandphoto captured it perfectly. X by @loisoco

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3 months ago

I’ve been working on this bed for my client Sarah for a couple of years. It has been one of my most complicated planting and maintenance projects, but I’ve come to realise that its most challenging features are also the ones that make it spectacular.

The steep slope
The scale 3.5x20 metres
The clay soil
The lavish narcissus layer
The baked dry aspect
The borrowed landscape
The balance between wild and curated
The weed and perennial thugs battle

There are still gaps to fill and problem areas, but it’s a very special border and I’m pleased to be a part of it.

The rest of Sarah’s garden is pure rural magic. by @loisoco

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3 months ago

A little something I’ve been working on.

I’ve got some wonderful clients who have trusted me with a bold new approach to the meadow in their back garden. This is a perennial @pictorialmeadows mix in its establishment year. I wasn’t expecting so much colour until year 2, but here we are, the annuals cracking on!

We spread 10cm of sharp sand across the entire site in autumn to smother out problematic weed seed. On this clean slate we sowed the new meadow mix. Germination was rapid in October/November, then we waited until spring to see growth. Despite a bone dry April we resisted the urge to irrigate and it paid off. The sand mulch maintained just enough moisture in the root environment.

The larkspur are now 1.5metres high and providing much whimsy swaying in the breeze. The character of the meadow is due to change significantly next year as it moves into its perennial form and I’m so excited to keep watching, tending and learning from it.

@smoothmovesfitness @melaniebeharrell by @loisoco

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4 months ago

The shed office was completed during the unholy winter of 2026. Thanks to Leeson for doing the heavy lifting on that, with Ollie and I as his minions. The garden took a beating in all the wet and the coming and goings but with a little love it has recovered. Now looking full and bouncy like never before. There’s no denying black makes plants pop, just look at that eleagnus. Some front garden shots while I’m at it. Always good to remember where we started. The majority of the original structure is still there beneath the corrugated metal. Deconstructed, reconstructed. A new lease of life.

#garden #gardentransformation #shed #home by @loisoco

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5 months ago

Twilight garden patrol after the rain 💧 x by @loisoco

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6 months ago

Shed transformation incoming!

With our house, we inherited an enormous 8 metre shed. It’s been a fabulous clutter accumulator over the past 5 years, but has gradually deteriorated with rot and the occasional whiskered visitor.

We are in the process of revamping. The shed is now completely dismantled and will be rebuilt into a combi shed/ garden office. We’ve retained all salvageable parts, including the roof which is in good nick. We’ll clad the whole structure in corrugated metal sheets and insulate the office section thoroughly.

1. Here she is looking resplendent back in July, with incredible light and storm clouds rolling in.

2. The current hole at the back of the garden with new brick course.

3. The view we’ll have from the garden office by next summer.

4. The first garden session back in 2020. by @loisoco

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10 months ago

The star of the show in Holly’s garden has to be this Cupids Dart (Catanache caerulea). Started from seed this spring, I was informed by the packet that it would flower in its second year. In fact we’ve had flowers non-stop since August. The spent seed heads, papery silver, float amongst the remaining blue blooms.

It can be very satisfying to design with someone else’s colour preferences in mind. I rarely decide to go monochromatic, but this icy blue scene is quite enchanting. by @loisoco

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a year ago

A visit this week to a planting project I installed back in June. Mid October and it’s giving full summer vibrancy. A testament to Holly’s dedicated care through a very hot and dry summer. by @loisoco

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a year ago

A restorative wander around Wisley yesterday after way too long.

1) found this sublime combination of Sanguisorba ‘All Time High’ and Glycyrrhiza. 2)Lagerstroemia ‘Sarah’s Favourite’ that I had the pleasure of planting in my first year as a student looking very well in the mixed borders. 3) A reminder to always grow the beautiful herb Perilla. 4) A wonderfully executed dead hedge in the orchard. 5) This Styphnolobium japonicum, a tree that must have been previously obscured by the old Oudolf borders, now free to show off. 7)Amsonia hubrictii casting excellent shadows. I’ve been intending to buy this plant for ages. This was my sign to do it immediately.

Thanks as always for your friendship and knowledge on the mixed borders @nicholaspetters. @emma.owen.gardens for the hot goss and cold ice cream 😉 by @loisoco

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a year ago