Some of the most rewarding garden design and landscaping projects we’ve worked on began with a property that had decades of growth. When reimagining a garden, it could be tempting to clear everything and start with a blank canvas, but the most considered redesigns often do the opposite. If there’s a hundred-year-old cedar, a yew hedge that encloses the terrace, or a band of woodland that softens the boundary, we treat them as a starting point for the new design. In this article, I explain how we decide what to keep, and how the trees, hedges and structures we retain shape everything around them.
Reading the garden before redrawing it
Time is the one thing no new design and build scheme can offer. A thoughtful approach to retention means the redesigned garden can feel settled, private and part of its setting from the first summer.
We start with close observation, walking the site and noting how light moves across it through the day, where shelter falls, which views open up or need screening, and how the owners use the space. A terrace that catches the evening sun or a path worn through the lawn say something about how the garden works.
Mature trees are assessed with an arboriculturist, who records each tree’s condition, life expectancy and root protection area. That survey is a starting point, but the design decisions go further. We judge existing planting on its health, character and contribution to the whole. Some shrubs will be overgrown but worth renovating. Some borders will have lost their structure but contain plants worth lifting and replanting. Other elements, such as a tired hedge, a tree that blocks the best view from the house or planting that has outlived its role, may need to go.
What does mature planting bring to a new garden?
Established trees, woodland and hedging give a garden its structure. They set the scale, hold the eye, create enclosure and give a sense of age. A new scheme laid out beneath an old oak or alongside a mature beech hedge immediately has depth.
Privacy is often the most immediate benefit. Mature boundary planting screens neighbouring properties and roads in a way that new planting may take many years to achieve. Even the fastest-growing hedging usually needs around three years to reach a useful size, and slower species like a yew take considerably longer.
Mature planting also shapes the microclimate. Hedges filter wind, slowing it without the turbulence that builds up behind a solid wall or fence. They also trap some of the dust and pollution from nearby roads. That shelter is felt on an early summer evening, when friends linger around a table on the terrace or gather at an outdoor kitchen while dinner is being cooked.
Protecting habitats and biodiversity
Over years, an established garden becomes a habitat. Mature trees, woodland edges, hedges and undisturbed ground support birds, insects, bats and small mammals that would take a long time to return if the garden were cleared.
We’re always conscious of improving biodiversity, and wildlife thrives where there are mature trees and where plants of different heights create layers of vegetation, each supporting different species with food, shelter and places to breed. Hedges and other living boundaries give animals cover and a way to move through the garden and into neighbouring land, too.
Retaining these elements protects something that’s hard to recreate, and it also shapes how and when the build happens. Birds and their active nests, and bats and their roosts have their own legal protection. Keeping established hedging and woodland largely intact, and planning any clearance outside these periods, protects wildlife and avoids the delays that come with finding an active nest mid-build.
Designing around mature trees, views and shade
A mature canopy can become the setting for a shaded dining area, a quiet bench at the end of a woodland walk or a place to escape the afternoon heat. Retaining a beautiful old tree is about more than leaving the trunk standing. Its roots often extend well beyond the edge of the canopy, and they are easily damaged by digging or changes in ground level. Where some encroachment is unavoidable, our project arboriculturist assesses the likely impact and proposes mitigation. This might involve building paths using no-dig construction or decking that float above the root zone.
Shade becomes part of the palette when we design planting schemes to thrive in the dappled light beneath established trees. Paths and seating can be placed to take advantage of cool, green spaces. Existing views are treated the same way; we might lift the crown of a tree to frame a view across open countryside or thin a section of woodland to reveal a glimpse of water beyond.
Some of the gardens we work on are in a conservation area or include trees with formal protection, particularly where the house has a long history. We build any local authority consent into our programme, so the design, survey and any notices all move together. This also tends to sharpen design as these trees are the ones that give a place its character.
Bringing existing structures into the new scheme
It is not only planting that can be retained. Established gardens often contain walls, steps, paths, terraces, garden buildings and water features. An old brick or stone wall with years of weathering can give a newly planted border instant maturity. Sometimes, there’s a flight of steps that’s perfectly positioned and simply needs resetting, or a garden building might be well placed for the view but needs sensitive refurbishment.
The question we always ask is whether an existing element suits the overall design and whether it connects the garden to the history of the house. If any materials or features can’t stay where they are, we reclaim or reuse them elsewhere, perhaps as edging, a low retaining wall or a feature within a new area of planting. If a terrace is in the wrong position or a feature interrupts the flow of the garden, we can advise on removing it with confidence because the decision has been carefully considered.
In this garden redesign in Godalming, our brief was to reimagine the existing garden into a functional and attractive space. We retained the formal character of the original layout while introducing a softer, more practical design. The client didn’t want more red brick, so clay pavers and natural sandstone were introduced, and all the existing bricks were reused for new low retaining walls and steps.
Find out more about how we plan a complex garden landscaping project.
A quieter build and a garden that feels established sooner
A design that works with what already exists needs less clearance, heavy machinery and soil movement. Sometimes the programme is shorter, simply because there is less to remove and replace. New and semi-mature plants need careful watering and attention through their first years, while established trees and hedges are already well rooted.
For clients, the real benefit comes from a garden that feels complete sooner. They also value calm and privacy, and a garden that needs fewer visits from a garden management team is an advantage.
A garden that carries its history forward
Redesigning an established garden is an opportunity to refine and reimagine, without losing what makes it special. By assessing each tree, hedge, planting area and structure on its merits, we can create something new that still feels as though it belongs. It becomes a garden with a clear sense of its setting, space to gather, a place to be still and a character that has deepened with time.
If you have an established garden and are considering a redesign, we’d love to arrange an initial consultation.
About Paul
Paul Cowell is our Managing Director. He’s a Chartered Landscape Architect and full member of the Landscape Institute, as well as a registered member of the Society of Garden Designers. Paul is an RHS Judge, sits on show garden selection panels for RHS Chelsea and Hampton Court, and is a member of the RHS sustainability panel.