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LandyGirls Landscaping
Watch a Landygirls garden closely for long enough and something usually moves. A blackbird tugging at a border, a bumblebee working a foxglove, a hedgehog nosing along the base of a hedge at dusk.
That, the Wantage-based design and build team say, is the point. Gardens are meant to be lived in by more than just the people who own them.
Founded in 2004 by Julie and now run alongside her daughter Jess, Landygirls Landscaping has spent more than 20 years turning tired plots, new-build blank canvases and neglected corners into working outdoor spaces.
The team are certified members of the Guild of Master Craftsmen, and their display at the Beaulieu BBC Gardeners' World Spring Fair in May 2025 was described by one visitor as the best in the show.
Increasingly, the gardens they are asked to create come with a brief that goes beyond a patio and a lawn. Clients want somewhere to sit with a cup of tea and watch what the garden is doing.
That has pushed nature-friendly planting to the front of the practice. Borders are chosen for the microclimate of each site, mixing nectar-rich flowering plants, native shrubs and layered structure so that birds have cover, pollinators have food and the garden looks different in every season.
Restoring land that has been compacted, stripped or simply forgotten is the other side of the work. New-build gardens are a common starting point, often little more than a thin skim of turf over builder's rubble.
The team's approach is patient rather than dramatic. Soil is dug over and improved, drainage is fixed where it needs fixing, and fresh turf goes down properly so that a lawn has a chance of thriving rather than limping through its first summer.
Beyond the lawn, the practice has been designing what it calls food forests: layered, edible planting schemes that combine fruit trees, soft fruit, herbs and vegetables in a way that mimics a natural woodland edge. The idea is a garden that feeds a household and rebuilds soil health at the same time.
Bare-root hedging, thousands of bulbs, staked trees and native shrubs have gone into gardens across the area over the years, and clients have written warmly about the horticultural knowledge behind the choices as much as the finish of the paving and fencing.
The mother-and-daughter partnership at the heart of the business also carries a quieter message about who gets to work outdoors. Julie set Landygirls up more than two decades ago, when women running landscaping firms were rare. Jess grew up watching that happen, and now runs jobs of her own.
The pair are open about wanting to make the industry feel accessible to younger people, and to girls in particular. That starts with the gardens they design.
Family projects often include a productive vegetable patch, a soft corner planted for butterflies and bees, or a simple bird-watching spot where children can sit and see what turns up. The aim is small, repeatable moments, the kind that turn a curious eight-year-old into a teenager who knows the difference between a bumblebee and a hoverfly.
It is unfussy, hands-in-the-soil work, and it tends to stick. More information about the team's design and build projects, food forests and planting schemes is available on the Landygirls website.
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