Duncan Heather

Are You An Environmentally-friendly Garden Designer?



Posted: Friday, January 22, 2010

by Duncan Heather
Oxford College of Garden Design

If you've been following the shenanigans in over the past couple of weeks then it's inevitable you will have been thinking about your own carbon footprint and as a garden designer, that means thinking about the carbon footprint on clients too.

They may have set their hearts on that Indian sandstone that seems to just shimmer in the sunlight but can you (or they) really justify transporting exotic landscaping materials half-way around the world just to satisfy an aesthetic whim? Similarly, can we really justify the use of hardwoods, which take centuries to mature, when a softwood would do the same job and can be replaced in half that time?

As garden designers, we have a responsibility to make the right choices for both our clients and our own consciences. And it's no good arguing genus loci a design concept that refers to the very essence or spirit of a place because actually, if you really think about it, what is Indian stone doing in a Cotswold garden or a London terraced street?

If that's not enough to persuade you to persuade your clients to source their hard-lanscaping materials locally, then get them to think about the other, often hidden, political, social and environmental implications of imported products. How has that Indian stone been quarried or that hardwood been logged? Can you be absolutely sure child labour has played no part? What has been the impact of that process including pollution - on an already environmentally-sensitive landscape?

More and more of us - designers and contractors both are now making more environmentally-friendly choices when choosing our landscaping materials and that's a trend that is only set to increase over the next decade.

For more information about environmentally friendly garden design and other garden design courses visit the OCGD website.

Duncan Heather is the Principal of the Oxford College of Garden Design and one of Europe’s foremost garden designers, to-date having won five gold, one silver & one bronze medal and three best of show awards for his design work. He lives in Oxfordshire where he both lectures and works. Born in Britain, he travels extensively and undertakes a very wide range of projects around the world, from tiny courtyard gardens to large country estates. He originally trained under, then worked for, top international designer and author John Brookes and was subsequently offered a directorship in 1991, which he declined to concentrate on his own design practice in Henley-on-Thames.

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