Garden design & planting · London
Gardens designedfrom the plants up
Fraser & Morris is a plant-led garden design studio. We create town, courtyard, family and country gardens across London, Oxfordshire, Suffolk and Sussex, with planting that looks good in every season.
The studio
A garden designer who starts with the planting
Fraser & Morris designs gardens around plants. Layout, paving and structure matter, and we draw them carefully, but what makes a garden memorable is how it is planted: the layering, the colour, the way it changes through the year.
Whether it is a shaded courtyard in south London, a family garden in Highgate or a country garden in Oxfordshire, we design for the site, the soil and the people who will use it.
- Planting plans drawn and set out by the designer
- Gardens that look good in winter as well as June
- Practical layouts for families, entertaining and working from home
Gardens
Every garden starts with its setting
From enclosed courtyards to country gardens that open onto fields, these are the kinds of gardens we design most often, and how we approach each one.
CourtyardCourtyard Gardens
Enclosed, sheltered and full of potential: courtyards rewarded with layered planting.
Town gardenTown Gardens
Narrow, overlooked plots behind period houses, planned as true outdoor rooms.
Family gardenFamily Gardens
Room to play, room to sit, and planting tough enough to live alongside both.
Country family gardenOxfordshire Gardens
Generous borders, orchards and meadow for family homes in the Oxfordshire countryside.
Architectural plantingCountry Gardens
Clipped yew, pleached trees and bold foliage that hold a garden together all year.
Lush plantingLush & Internal Gardens
Dense, green, layered planting for light wells, atriums and shady city gardens.
Services
From first sketch to first flowering
We can take a garden from survey to planting, or help with one part of it. Every project starts with a conversation in the garden.
Garden design
A complete design: measured survey, concept, detailed layout, construction drawings and a planting plan, ready to build.
Planting design
Planting plans for new borders or a whole garden, with plants sourced, set out and placed by us on the day.
Build management
We tender the work to trusted landscapers, oversee the build and make sure the details are right.
Aftercare
Seasonal visits in the first years to edit, replant and guide the garden as it matures.
“A garden is never finished. We design the first chapter, and the plants write the rest.”The Fraser & Morris approach
How it works
A clear process, start to finish
Designing a garden is a collaboration. Here is what happens between the first visit and the first summer.
Consultation
We visit, walk the garden with you and talk about how you want to use it.
Survey
A measured survey records levels, boundaries, trees, soil and aspect.
Concept
Sketch layouts and mood images explore ideas before anything is fixed.
Design
A detailed plan, drawings and planting plan, costed and ready to build.
Build & plant
We oversee the landscapers and set out every plant ourselves.
Planting through the year
Gardens designed for all four seasons
Choose a season to see how a Fraser & Morris planting plan keeps the garden interesting all year round.
Bulbs push through, blossom opens and fresh foliage unfurls. We plan for a long spring: snowdrops and hellebores, then tulips, alliums, blossom and the first perennials.
- Tulips
- Alliums
- Crab apple blossom
- Hellebores
- Epimedium
- Camassia
Borders reach their height. Roses, salvias, geraniums and grasses carry the garden from June into a late summer flush of dahlias and asters.
- Roses
- Salvias
- Dahlias
- Geranium 'Rozanne'
- Verbena bonariensis
- Agapanthus
Grasses turn to straw and copper, seedheads form and leaves colour. Autumn planting is often the most atmospheric of the year.
- Miscanthus
- Sanguisorba
- Asters
- Japanese maple
- Persicaria
- Malus fruit
Structure takes over. Clipped evergreens, bark, seedheads and winter-flowering shrubs keep a well-designed garden alive in the coldest months.
- Yew & clipped shapes
- Betula bark
- Sarcococca
- Hellebores
- Grasses
- Snowdrops
Where we work
London gardens, and beyond
Based in London, we design gardens across the capital and in the countryside of Oxfordshire, Suffolk and Sussex.
North London
Highgate, Hampstead, Belsize Park, Islington, Primrose Hill and Muswell Hill.
South London
Camberwell, Dulwich, Peckham, Brixton, Clapham, Kennington and Greenwich.
Oxfordshire & Cotswolds
Country gardens across Oxfordshire, the Cotswolds, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire.
Suffolk & Sussex
Coastal and country gardens in Suffolk, East and West Sussex and Kent.
From the journal
Garden design ideas & advice
SeasonalAutumn bulb planting: a guide to spring colour
October and November are the months to plant for spring. A designer's guide to bulbs that flower in sequence from February to June.
Read articlePlantingHow to use dahlias in a garden border
Generous, painterly and in flower until the frosts, dahlias can carry a border through late summer. Here's how to use them.
Read article
PlantingNaturalistic planting with grasses and perennials
Soft, airy and full of movement: how to plant a border that looks as if it grew there by itself.
Read articleQuestions
Frequently asked
What areas do you cover?
We design gardens across London, north and south, and further afield in Oxfordshire, the Cotswolds, Suffolk, Sussex and the Home Counties.
How does the garden design process work?
It starts with a consultation visit. We then produce a measured survey, a concept design for discussion, a final layout and a detailed planting plan. We can also manage the build with trusted landscapers and set out the planting ourselves.
How long does it take to design a garden?
A small garden can be designed in a few weeks. Larger gardens usually take two to three months from survey to final planting plan, depending on how quickly decisions are made.
Do you build the gardens you design?
We work with a small group of trusted landscape contractors who build our designs, and we oversee the work on site. We set out and place every plant ourselves.
Can you just help with planting?
Yes. Many of our projects are planting-only: new borders, replanting a tired garden or a seasonal planting plan for an existing layout.
Start a conversation
Let's talk about your garden
Tell us a little about your garden and what you would like from it. We will arrange a visit to see the space, talk through ideas and explain how we can help.
Book a consultation