Adam Frost

If all goes well I should be in for a good year next year.
 
I have sent my plans in for Chelsea and we are busy looking for a sponsor (if there is anyone out there let me know….). We have linked up with Nick Hamilton at Barnsdale Gardens. Nick is going to do a lot of the growing but we also plan to rebuild the Chelsea garden at Barnsdale if we get the sponsorship. We will see….
 
And we are planning to open an office at Barnsdale so that we can work closer with Nick on various projects. It’s great to be going back there. It feels a bit like coming home after being away travelling; but I’m going back a different person from the one that left.
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I’ve just had another amazing trip to Cairo (although the traffic hasn’t improved!!); the place is turning into quite an inspiration to me. If I am honest, when I returned from my first trip I wasn’t sure how to approach the design. As I believe garden design is 80% about communication and understanding how people live I try to get under people’s skin and take them on a journey, which isn’t quite so easy considering the cultural differences. Well so I thought, but on this trip I arrived midway through Ramadan and have spent a lot of time with the client’s family, eating and chatting at the end of each day, so I really have got to know them better.
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I know I am not alone when I say this, but September is probably my favourite month of the year. Not because it’s my birthday – mind you, that helps – but because some of my favourite plants are at their best.
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I have just been taken to Germany to look at tree nurseries, mainly large stock. By the nice people at Deepdale Trees (take a look at their website www.deepdale-trees.co.uk they have some wonderful stock).
If you ever get the chance then go! one of the many things I thought was great was that so many of the nurseries in Germany are in the same area, for instance we flew into Hamburg and out of Bremmen two days later and in the region between those two airports there is over 600 hundred nurseries, so you can see so much in a short space of time. I think my favorite was our final visit the nursery was run by an old school friend of Matthias, who runs Deepdale, the nursery specialises in large trees.Read more...

Just before I went away to Glastonbury, I was asked to design a small urban edible garden at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. Although we didn’t have a lot of time to put this garden together - three weeks all in all - I was pleased with the outcome. Read more...

It seems a while since I have posted a few words but I have been busy - I promise. However, I must be honest - it’s not all been work though. My wife, bless her, sorted me a ticket to go to Glastonbury. Read more...

Anyone who knows me knows how much I care about education within our industry so it was great to be approached by City and Guilds to contribute to an article to promote horticulture as a career. I think it was an ‘idiot makes good’ kind of article (James, I’m talking about me, not you) but hopefully, it’ll make a few people think about a future in horticulture, you never know!
Click here to download the PDF of the article.

It’s always great to receive a letter from a happy client but this one struck a chord with me because I think it pretty well sums up what gardens can do in today’s world. I love the fact that we have created a garden that welcomes. Anyway, here’s part of a very nice letter:

“Moved back into the house last Tuesday and it is still a building site with something happening in every room. The Easter break has been a great chance to try and create some order but every time I start to feel stressed I just have to look at my garden and feel instant calm. You completely fulfilled your brief of a meditative garden with Japanese overtones. It welcomes us out into it – now looking forward to some sun so we can sit out and really enjoy it”

Thanks for the kind words Victoria.Read more...

 I had the pleasure of helping my mate Nick Hamilton from Barnsdale Gardens to put his nursery display together at Gardeners’ World Live in Birmingham last week. It was a long day on the Monday before the show opened, but worthwhile with him winning a Gold Medal (well done fella). Great timing, as he’s just launched a new website for the gardens and has some great new stuff coming up. Take a look at www.barnsdalegardens.co.uk 

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Holiday over and we are off to Hampton Court. A late entry but it should be good fun. We are designing a front garden for the RHS, a bit like Sarah Eberle’s ‘Credit Crunch’ gardens at Chelsea, but these are edible gardens. I have based my design on a young couple, who combine their passion for cooking with a real love of their small modern garden. I want to make it so that every day they can come home from work and find something in the garden that will inspire a meal. It will be planted with herbs, fruit and a few salad crops (to be honest, whatever I can get my hands on). I will take some photos so keep an eye out!Read more...