hi, We are having a family reunion this July, and on the first day we've planned a picnic for approximately 200 family members and friends. It will be held on the grounds of my weekend home that was built in 1912. so I decided to create an outside living room and dining room. and I wanted it to blend in with the greenery of the grounds. so what I did, was took old furnishings that I wasn't using or I had stored up and transformed them into outside furniture. for instance, I took an old sofa and had in upholstered in a durable canvass type white fabric that's for outside use. I even skirted the sofa. I then used throw pillows of different patterns but using color schemes of turquoise, apple green and yellow. i covered the chairs in patterns of the same colors. i purchase outside rugs in turquoise and white to set the cocktail table on and the dining table. i covered side chairs in bold coordinating fabrics using the same color scheme.. i painted the side tables and dining table, as well as picnic tables in white....using an oil based paint and sealing it with a clear poly coat. i painted the dining server in turquoise, and the dining chairs in a yellow...it looks amazing, fresh, tropical and timeless. so this is something you can consider for your outside space. Johnna

Hi Vanessa, I have written a few blogs with advice about planting for pollinators on my web-site ,Greenwave Design. The main thing would be to reduce the size of your lawn, which is not a very wildlife friendly feature, and put in more trees, shrubs and perennial plants. Wildlife need places to live as well as food so lots of places to shelter in the garden will be helpful. Pollinators want flowers that they can sip nectar from for as long a period as possible. So flowers need to start early, with bulbs such as snowdrops and crocus, and carry on for as long as possible. Another great wildlife friendly feature is a pond, or at the very least a birdbath. If you do put in a pond it needs to have shallow, sloping sides so that wildlife can get in and out easily. There is lots of good advice on the Wild about Gardens web-site.

@ angm47 - Nice garden! It's the opposite to yours. Mine slopes upwards towards the far end, so I've added steps on the drawing, see the two horizontal double lines. So there would be 4 changes in level in total inc the last one behind the gabion retaining wall. I'm expecting a fair amount of ground excavation regardless of final design. PS I'm really into grids and straight lines so not opting for anything circular. @campo73 - nice isn't it! Yeah it's the same, 9x5 grid of 600m@ slabs, making the shorter side 3m wide, plus I've added another slab width path to two sides, making it even wider for chairs to be pulled out. I noticed the smaller table too. Thanks for the tip on the stone choice. @rachelmidlands - thanks for your additional feedback! @JBS Ltd - I agree that a light coloured slab would look more contemporary, which is what I'm after, but I'm reluctant to if they will go green all the time :-S You read my mind on the planting, I already have some miscanthus I'm potting up ready for action. As for the perennials, I'm going to go for strong stemmed ones with winter seed interest, rudbeckia goldsturm for example. I quite like the idea of a late season garden, like Joanne Bernstein's (bloody gorgeous garden and a BIG inspiration that one - see pic link http://farm1.static.flickr.com/343/19951288828_3accea0675_b.jpg. @Jen P - Yeah I thought it'd fit too - the size is 3.0x5.4m - it's hardly small! Whilst I like angm47's garden I am opting for straight lines, grids, no curves. Plus, crucially, (if anyone's noticed) I've brought ALL the planting areas away from the yew hedge boundary consciously, from a practical point of view. I'm trying to design it with manageability in mind as well as aesthetics. Plus I quite like the idea of bringing the focus inwards rather than putting it on the borders around the edges. Plus, I'm not so bothered if the garden is long and rectangular, because its easy to change when the kids grow up :) @colourhappy - totally agree - if you see everything at once you give the game away. So I've put in screening features with line of sight from the living room in mind. Re 45 degree angles, oh god that means a complete re-design :-) I've been told to 'work with what you've got' in the past, so taking that on board, my design grew from the existing raised brick border on the right that's parallel with the boundary. I'm not sure I could/want to change it all and and keep that there at the same time. @fran11home - thanks for the tip I'll check it out!

Hi Eve, Well done for taking on a design project. Always an exciting challenge and by the looks of it you've done yourself proud. I know it's a bit late in the day to give any suggestions but perhaps you could put them to one side for a rainy day? Looking at your patio layout I would suggest a slight tweak in order to have some coherence with the circular or rather flowing feel you have tried to create. Notice how in my quick scribble I've taken out the sharp corners of the paving by making a curved edge, which is easily achieved by cutting the stone to suit the site, such as natural sandstone or preferably dark material such as slate. To hide the cut edges you can install edging cobbles or blocks with small low profile led lights interspersed between the edging blocks? Please see attached scribble to see what I mean. Second thing and this is of course completely budget dependent is because you already have a lovely stark white fence you might want to consider contrasting that with a dark material for your hard landscaping such as a nice slate or dark black limestone pavers? The planting looks lovely by the way!