In many a garden I work on, I often find a whole range of materials that are simply discarded in favour of a complete makeover. With some imagination they can be used again to good effect, not only making considerable financial savings, but eliminating the need for new surfaces and the implications of an additional carbon footprint.

There is another factor at play here and I am often aware of the history, or ambience of a place in terms of time. Many gardens are passed on from owner to owner and like houses, we are the guardians of these. To start from scratch destroys everything that went before, but if we understand and take this into consideration a whole new range of possibilities opens up to us.

This is just what I am doing with the old stone and other paving which was buried. Planting revolves around the fine magnolia and other structural shrubs. All this we have kept and reused, not only saving a fortune, but also creating a garden that was born out of the old.