About Wild Service Gardens
Garden Designer - South East London
Nicholas Audsley
Owner & Lead Designer/Gardener
Nicholas is a nature lover and trained horticulturalist. Having previously worked as an actor and artist he has spent the past six years dedicated to gardening and garden design. His degree in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins combined with his RHS studies have placed him in a good position to balance the artistic sensitivity and practical knowledge that innovative gardening and design require. After honing his skills working with Seasons Landscapes he worked freelance for four years before setting up Wild Service Gardens, bringing together a small skilled team to focus on reaching more people and developing his passion for woodland and native planting schemes. He is always happy to discuss design ideas or general gardening enquires so please don’t hesitate to be in touch.
Planting design
If there is an area of your garden that you would like to replant, a rejigging of an overall scheme or just a few key additions to help revitalise and unite the space, we can make suggestions, draw up small planting plans and offer suitable plant lists based on a visit and discussions with you. We can also source plants and install the plans for you on whatever scale.
Quotes for this service can be agreed after a site visit and discussion. Please be in touch to discuss plans and arrange a potential visit.
Garden design
For new spaces or a significant reinvention of the garden space we can collaborate with you to design a completely new garden. This would involve in depth discussions and analysis of the site to understand your wishes, tastes and priorities for the space and its potential. A suggested design and planting scheme would then be developed and drawn out in plan form for your perusal. This will give you a clear idea of what to expect and how it could still be adapted. Once this is agreed the next step would be the installation of the new garden.
Quotes for this service can be agreed after a site visit and discussion. Please be in touch to discuss plans and arrange a potential visit.
Garden installation
Once the garden plan is agreed the next step would be the installation. The first part of this process is defining the core shapes of the garden. We may need to improve the soil with the addition of a soil conditioner, define new pathways and beds, alter the site topography and remove or move any existing elements that will not be part of the new garden. This work will be carried out by experienced landscapers and all planting will be supervised by Nicholas.
All new planting will be sourced from reliable stock nurseries well known for their quality and ethical provenance. The anchoring trees and shrubs will be planted first in conjunction with any hard landscaping elements and key features that need to be installed. The borders will then be filled out with additional herbaceous planting to complete the design.
Quotes for this service can be agreed after a site visit and discussion. Please be in touch to discuss plans and arrange a potential visit.
Garden maintenance
A regular service tailored to the needs of the space. We ensure plants maintain optimum health and that the garden is establishing in the intended way. This also involves regular pruning of trees and shrubs, cutting back of perennials such as grasses at the end of the season and time sensitive mulching, weeding and dividing. The garden is always evolving and we relish an active engagement with this process.
We cater for a wide variety of gardens with different needs. We offer regular maintenance which could be weekly, biweekly monthly or seasonally depending on your preference and necessity.
The rate for all maintenance work carried out by trained horticulturalists is £30 per hour. A maintenance plan will be drawn up after the first visit to establish the ongoing work plan, regularity and time allocated.
Naturalistic and Native planting
The ancient landscape was woodland. It was the original state of the land and what the land would attempt to return to if left unattended. While allowing this wild natural space to establish itself would surely result in inhospitable and unruly places, a way can be found of working with some of the natural processes inherent in the geography to establish healthy, vibrant living gardens that are beautiful, inviting and cared for.
There are a huge variety of native trees and shrubs that can be used to surprising effect to make richly atmospheric spaces aligned and alive to the changes in season. Add to this the vast array of wild flower and grass varieties that are native to London and a story begins to unfold of a wild, untapped exquisitely magical heritage.
A garden design doesn’t have to be exclusively native yet there is something wonderful about anchoring the garden in its natural heritage and this includes the obvious benefit of helping local wildlife, ensuring the plants are in their optimal conditions and working with the natural seasonal changes to allow year round fascination.