Instagram story viewer> @studio_macarthur> Posts

Claire MacArthur Landscape Designer

@studio_macarthur

732

followers

3634

following

🍀Landscape designer I Regenerative
📚Inchbald School of Design Graduate & Tutor
✍️Masterclasses
🌱40+ yrs gardening
Living soil = healthy 🌱, 🐝 & humans

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

We have not had rain for some time. This Scotch thistle (Cirsium vulgare) is thriving and in peak flow, with no signs of dehydration. The mauve flowers look stunning against the backdrop of the golden grasses. Despite being golden, at their base, there are green leaves. Early this morning, there was moisture on their leaves. Why is this so in a drought, when the ground looks parched?

The answer lies below the surface.

The thistle’s deep taproot, often a metre or more, taps moisture far below where shallow roots give up. The grasses senesce their upper blades to cut water loss, while protecting green basal leaves near the soil surface, where humidity is higher.

Dew is the other clue. On clear nights, surfaces radiate heat and cool below the dew point, so moisture condenses onto leaves — intensified by ground cover and undisturbed soil, which trap humidity near the canopy.

This is deep-rooted wildflowers, self-protecting grasses, and healthy soil doing the work irrigation would otherwise do. Roots and fungal networks redistribute moisture — hydraulic lift — as deep roots share water with shallow neighbours overnight.

The result: a resilient microclimate, an unstressed thistle in bloom, and resources for the butterflies and goldfinches that depend on it.

@studio_macarthur

#livingsoil #regenerativegardening #resilience #droughttolerance taken in London, United Kingdom by @studio_macarthur

34

2

2 months ago

by @studio_macarthur

64

7

3 months ago

One of the best ways to prevent heat entering a home is to stop it entering in the first place. Strategic placement of climbing plants on a property can keep it cool in hot weather.

@the_rhs scientific studies conducted in partnership with the University of Reading @uniofreading found that ivy (and other climbing plants) are highly effective at reducing daily temperature variations, keeping buildings significantly cooler during hot summer heatwaves without increasing damp.

The University of Surrey’s @uniofsurrey Urban Greening for Heat Mitigation Toolkit has lots more information about the mitigating effects of incorporating more green into our urban spaces. Urban greenery has been shown to reduce land surface temperatures by up to 1°C and air temperatures by up to 7 °C.

This is a garden designed by us @studio_macarthur. The Trachelospermum jaminoides has beed trained around this west facing bay window, and covers much of the facade, so that it looks incredible on the exterior, whilst simultaneously keeping the occupants cool on the inside.

Imagine the cumulative impact on urban temperatures if every home were to do this.

@studio_macarthur

https://www.surrey.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2025-12/Urban-Greening-How-To-Digital-Toolkit-HEAT-MITIGATION.pdf

#gardendesign #smartdesign #frontofhouse #victorianhome taken in London, United Kingdom by @studio_macarthur

41

3

3 months ago

What an amazing evening we had with the wonderful Claire MacArthur @studio_macarthur in the house as she took us on a deep dive into soil and how it is an ecosystem in its own right. We learnt all about mycorrhizal fungi, the communication network they have established and how those networks are used to nutrient cycle trees and plants that are in distress. They are the ‘internet’ of the plant world.

What do you think constitutes a beautiful garden? Diversity of flowers and planting, the feeling of ‘prospect and refuge’, the pollinators, structure through trees and evergreen planting and perhaps ‘borrowing the landscape’ if it is a rather large garden. You would be correct in thinking all those things but what truly makes a garden beautiful is the soil that it is planted in. If we have healthy living soil, then everything we plant in it will grow, thrive and require minimal intervention. Healthy plants vibrate at frequencies that don’t attract disease and pests. Slugs it seems, didn’t get that memo!

Thank you to Josephine @josephine_susman_design , Fiona, Brigitte @inthegreengd , Eren @ernbck , Jen @flowgardeners , Maïtanne @maitannehunt , Kim, Emma @emmamachalegardendesign , Anjali @bhallaanjali , and John @johnpaulwilmer for attending the Masterclass, it would not have been possible without you. Until the next one…

#studiomacarthur #soil #resilientlandscape #soilhealth #masterclass by @studio_macarthur

72

9

4 months ago

Join us for an intimate evening of learning at a masterclass with the fabulous Claire MacArthur @studio_macarthur Landscape Designer and Design Tutor at the Inchbald School of Design @inchbaldschoolofdesign as she takes us through the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ behind a soil-first approach — from excavation and compaction management during construction, to planting design and post-construction soil care and establishment.

If you are interested please DM me for further details. Places are limited. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Photograph credit @hannahlovemore_

#studiomacarthur #soil #resilientlandscape #soilhealth #masterclass by @studio_macarthur

28

2

4 months ago

Mystified by the science surrounding soil? Come to a masterclass with the talented Claire MacArthur @studio_macarthur Landscape Designer and Design Tutor at the Inchbald School of Design @inchbaldschoolofdesign where she demystifies the science for us. Through various project case studies she will also show us construction techniques, soil handling methodologies and specification strategies that enable gardens to retain water more effectively, support long-term plant health and reduce reliance on hard-engineered drainage solutions.

If you are interested please DM me for further details. Places are limited. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Photograph credit @hannahlovemore_

#studiomacarthur #soil #resilientlandscape #soilhealth #masterclass by @studio_macarthur

47

3

4 months ago

Join us for the second masterclass in our Soil Series as we dig deeper (pardon the pun!) into how a soil led approach can help landscapes and domestic gardens withstand the growing pressures of climate change with the wonderful and knowledgeable Claire MacArthur @studio_macarthur Landscape Designer and Design Tutor at the Inchbald School of Design @inchbaldschoolofdesign . Through this masterclass we will explore the opportunities that heavier rainfall, longer periods of drought and increasing weather extremes can offer as well as examining how healthy, well structured soils form the foundation of beautiful landscapes by ensuring they have built-in resilience.

Claire is an award winning designer, having designed the planting for gardens as part of the team alongside interior designers Nicola Harding and Co and the sponsor Big Green Egg at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2013 for which they won ‘Best in Show’ in their category and then Gold in their category in both 2014 and 2016. In 2023, Claire completed the Advanced Soil Course organised by the Land Gardeners @thelandgardeners with leading agroecologist and soil expert Nicole Masters @masters.nicole (Integrity Soils), and has used soil science as the basis of all her landscape projects, large and small, ever since.

If you are interested please DM me for further details. Places are limited. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Photograph credit @hannahlovemore_

#studiomacarthur #soil #resilientlandscape #soilhealth #masterclass by @studio_macarthur

22

2

5 months ago

BULBS I I am in the process of selecting bulbs for clients and will place orders in the next few weeks. After a long winter, bulbs bring much needed early colour into the garden and are a way to mark the beginning of the growing season, starting with the emergence of snowdrop leaves (Galanthus nivalis) in early January. They also bring so much energy to the garden, as well as pollen for pollinators and roots in the soil for soil health. As always, much inspiration can be gleaned from this wonderful book...thank you @thelandgardeners. I have used this for many years and now so many of these tulips form the basis of and are staples within my bulb orders.

#thelandgardeners #tulips #bulbs #autumnplanting #plantingplans #gardendesign #colourtherapy #soilhealth #regenerativedesign #springcolour #springcolor taken in London, United Kingdom by @studio_macarthur

41

6

a year ago

INSPIRATION I These lovely illustrations are from the book Wildflowers of Australia, published in 1947, very kindly given to me by @oliverlyonsmiller, and found in a second hand bookshop in Bath.

These species are endemic to Australia, and some are ideal for use here in the UK, particularly given their drought tolerance, which as we know is something that is becoming more and more necessary with our changing climate. This lovely pelargonium and the Ajuga, are cases in point!

#droughttolerance #australiannativesflowers #climatechange #plantingdesign
#studio_macarthur #weekendreading taken in London, United Kingdom by @studio_macarthur

41

7

a year ago

EARLY MORNING LIGHT I After some much needed rain, and cooler temperatures, I am looking forward to spending the day on site at our new project in Primrose Hill. We are having much of the large, overgrown trees and shrubs cut back but not removed, as they will form part of the backbone of the design. Importantly, their existing root structure already provides a much needed soil microbiome, which we will be building on in the coming weeks. We will be sowing a green mulch of wildflowers, which will get as many roots in the ground as possible to ensure there is no bare soil, while we get on with the process of designing.

#regenerative #soilhealth #gardendesign #urbangardens #landscapedesign #nature #climate #restoration taken in London, United Kingdom by @studio_macarthur

40

3

a year ago

ROMANTIC PLANTING I We love to design romantic planting. This NW London garden has plenty of midsummer romance from the deeply scented Rosa ‘Cardinal de Richelieu’, to the rich maroon of Salvia x jamensis ‘Nachtvlinder’, the Lily ‘King Soloman’ and Clematis ‘Blue Angel’ intertwined with Rosa ‘Paul’s Himalayan Musk’.

@peter_nyssen
@sarahravensgarden

#romanticgardens #gardendesign #roses #regenerativegardens #soilhealth #summer taken in London, United Kingdom by @studio_macarthur

22

4

a year ago

PLANTING DESIGN I For one of the planting schemes as part of our Isle of Wight project, we were influenced by the work of Cedric Morris after seeing the recent exhibition Garden to Canvas at @philip_mould_gallery . We could not resist using lots of Benton irises and deep maroons.

@philip_mould_gallery
@benton.end

#plantingdesign #irises #studio_macarthur #plantingdesign #perennials #gardendesign #landscapedesign #roses #isleofwight taken in London, United Kingdom by @studio_macarthur

31

4

a year ago