Multiple suppliers. Multiple baskets. Banking app face down. Part 2 of A Summer of Colour is live — the summer bulb order. Not dahlias. The OTHER ones. The varieties nobody mentions and where to actually buy them. All over on the My Real Gardens Substack: https://loom.ly/fsuEVSw

Twelve months. Every single one considered throughout the year. This South Downs cottage garden — from frozen topiary in January to rudbeckia borders in August to asters in October. Same garden. Twelve different reasons to be outside. Get more inspiration here: geni.us/Ayearofcolour

Those circles? Vectorworks software. Data-rich: size, botanical name, pollinator value. We've built custom libraries from decades of experience. Software can't KNOW plants. That takes years. Bold, vibrant, biodiverse really do take meticulous planning. www.ann-mariepowell.com

Thrilled to be part of the 'Creative Work' feature in this month's Homes & Gardens with our Octavia Hill inspired RHS Chelsea Garden as the full-page lead image. Twice in one week this garden resurfaces - it's perhaps my favourite we've ever built at Chelsea. Beyond heartening it still resonates.

Pantone's 2026 colour is an off-white called Cloud Dancer. We respectfully disagree. Our counter-proposal: literally any of these. Bold. Vibrant. Biodiverse. Always. Frankly, we think 2026 is the Year of Colour (no surprise!) - if you were Pantone's CEO, which colour would you choose for 2026?

Lost Chelsea files - Julie Skelton found these from our 2024 RHS garden. Bold, vibrant, biodiverse planting. The Garden won Children's Choice, People's Choice & Silver-Gilt. Perfect timing as A YEAR OF COLOUR launches. https://geni.us/Ayearofcolour 📷 Julie Skelton

No hearts and flowers here! Well, not the cellophane-wrapped kind anyway. https://open.substack.com/pub/myrealgardens/p/this-is-not-a-valentine?r=9b2c7&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

We could have talked for hours! Sat down with Liz Smith to talk A Year of Colour for Community Life Magazines' March edition – Cobham & Esher, Weybridge & Brooklands, and Runnymede Life. To have them interview me about my work AND celebrate the book is a privilege. https://geni.us/Ayearofcolour

What a night at the SGLD Awards on Friday with Mary, Penny and Lisa from the AMPG team. Such a privilege to be part of an industry that champions each other so wholeheartedly. Congratulations to all the winners and shortlisted entries. And yes — Saturday morning heads were decidedly fragile!

The mud on our Kent project? World class. Five years of planning, currently expressed as fog, clay and one very impressive drainage run. Feels wonderful to have Landform on site building a rather special landscape for us. We cannot wait to share the progress — it's going to be AMAZING!

Today's the day! A Year of Colour is out in the world. Read or listen to the whole story behind the book here: https://www.scribehound.com/gardening/plants/s/plants/a-year-of-colour-your-permission-to-garden-boldly?ref=share&sharer=egDFZeseKmeETBRn7&shareType=QizkKDME&channel=gardening

You don't need a bulldozer to fall back in love with your garden. Sometimes it's the planting that needs attention, not the whole garden. Bespoke planting plans, designed remotely, delivered worldwide. https://www.ann-mariepowell.com/small-project-services/ (scroll down for Planting Plans)

First review in! The English Garden has featured A Year of Colour in their March issue and I'm genuinely touched. Forty planting combinations. Eighteen months of photography. One week until launch! Seeing it welcomed like this means more than I can properly express.

If January is dragging, seek out a garden. Even a quiet one - in fact, especially a quiet one. Here's our RHS Wisley Wildlife Garden – still but far from dormant. Fungi at work below, insects in hollow stems, birds in the seedheads. Let them do their thing whilst you do yours.

Grey January. Brown borders. Enough! Year-round colour isn't luck – it's planting design. Thirty years of testing in my own garden, now in a book. 'A Year of Colour' – out 5th Feb. https://www.ann-mariepowell.com/a-year-of-colour/

Where do we find them? The ones we've loved and lost. I've written something for The Garden Collective about Jules, about gardens, and about learning where I find him now. My garden is helping. I just wish he was still in it with me. £1 for your first month 👇 https://loom.ly/LAwpqJ0

£3,800 raised at the @PerennialGRBS Pie & Pint Quiz. 96 people supporting Perennial to support anyone who works in horticulture – the growers, landscapers, gardeners. The people who make it all happen. AMPG is a very proud Gold Partner. Are you? https://loom.ly/J3dI2b4

The deluges are making me lose the plot. Borders are soup. Bulbs held hostage. But I've got a backup plan. This week: unhinged planting solutions, West End wigs, free audiobooks, & news about A Year of Colour. If you fancy a read, here's the link: https://myrealgardens.substack.com/p/rain-stop-now

The countdown is ON. A Year of Colour lands 6th Feb (UK) and late March (US/Canada). My fifth book – forty real planting combos from my garden, captured over 18 months. This one means the world to me. Pre-order: https://geni.us/Ayearofcolour (UK) | https://geni.us/Ayearofcolor (US)

We're up for an award! Maybush, our colourful courtyard near Chichester is shortlisted for the @the_sgld Awards 2026. Ceremony on 6th Feb. Fingers crossed, but just being shortlisted feels like a win to us! More images and info on our website: https://www.ann-mariepowell.com/contemporary-courtyard/

Twelve months. Twelve reasons to be outside. That's the goal. No dull February. No waiting for June. Every scheme we design considers colour, texture and life through all twelve months. Here's to a year of gardens that truly work. We'd love to help with your project.

You don't need a country estate to work with an award-winning garden designer. Use our small projects services: Consultations. Planting plans available worldwide. Small garden design packages. 30 years of expertise, accessible to all. Full details: ann-mariepowell.com/small-project-services

We're back at the AMPG studio & 2026 greeted us with a snow-dusted landscape. The drive through Hampshire & West Sussex was a treat this morning – even our car park looked beautiful! We're refreshed and ready for an exciting year of bold, vibrant, biodiverse garden design. www.ann-mariepowell.com

Your vote would mean everything 💚 Our Maybush project is up for the SGLD People's Choice Award 2026—a climate-forward sanctuary & thriving ecosystem with bold colour, year-round biodiversity. Vote by 31 Oct: https://sgld.org.uk/events/awards/peoples-choice/2026/vote/ Ann-Marie & AMPG studio x

Getty Center's hardscaping: a 30-inch modular grid creates rhythm across the plazas. Rough-split travertine walls meet smooth paving, textured surfaces catch shadow. Massive boulders vary water sounds. 30 years on the contrasts still amaze! 1/3 #GettyCenter #LandscapeArchitecture

In California, I saw what happens when farmers think like gardeners. At Rancho Santa Clara del Norte, 200 pollinator species and 67 bird species support working lemon and avocado groves. Plants, soil life, habitat doing the work chemicals once did. Real biodiversity in action.

Here's my ten desert island bulbs (with in-stock links for UK, US and Canada) & there's some guilt-free permission-giving that might surprise you! https://open.substack.com/pub/myrealgardens/p/my-desert-island-bulbs-the-keepers?r=9b2c7&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

Thrilled that our RHS Wisley Wildlife Garden features in 'The Contemporary Garden' with just 300 of the world's finest garden and Landscape Designers. Vanity Fair calls it "An immersive look at all manner of verdant dreamscapes." Preorder: http://www.phaidon.com/contemporary-garden

We're thrilled our West Sussex courtyard garden is shortlisted for the SGLD Awards 2026. An honour to be in such esteemed company. More details on 1 October about the People's Choice Award. Thank you for selecting us @SGLD garden judges—we couldn't be more delighted! #SGLDAwards

After 30 years of creating award-winning gardens, this 10 step design guide shares what goes through my head when I stand in any garden for the first time. https://open.substack.com/pub/myrealgardens/p/how-i-start-every-garden-design-plants?r=9b2c7&utm_medium=ios

Transforming Hampton Court's Great Fountain Garden - still can't believe it! AMPG are working with Hampton Court's gardening team, headed by Graham Dillamore to redesign this 300 year old masterpiece with a vibrant, biodiverse, sustainable approach. Install news coming soon!

"It's face to face conversations that make things happen" Mark Gregory's words at Super Cluster @The_APL and @The_SGLD event. As an FSGLD leading our SGLD Registered Studio, I enjoyed the discussions on championing professional excellence & standing out as accredited pros. A brilliant evening.

AMPG is transforming Borde Hill's Victorian walled garden into an extraordinary culinary destination. These plants will contribute to four elemental quadrants celebrating both heritage & innovation, creating a biodynamic kitchen garden that feeds the new glasshouse restaurant. Opening Spring 2026.

At Lotusland, Ganna Walska transformed a failing pool into her lotus pond (1953-56), pioneering organic water gardening - no chemicals, only compost teas & microorganisms. Revolutionary! Her "impossibility doesn't exist" mindset created sustainable beauty decades ahead.

Ganna Walska's cactus obsession at Lotusland began with these golden barrel cacti. In 1941, she ditched the front lawn for spiky spheres visitors called 'mother-in-law cushions.' The best gardens begin with someone planting what they love, and bold beats boring every time.

From Burning Man's desert to Ganna Walska's Lotusland - sometimes you need the complete opposite! Visiting with fellow women in landscape, we expected botanical kitsch and found sophisticated art.

Perfect day for our studio plant ident, my garden acting as living library. My @gazeburvill chair hosting today's botanical briefing. 10 late summer stars in Bonne Maman jars - from Echinacea to Verbenas. Each brings insights for our boldly vibrant schemes. #boldvibrantbiodiverse

Anyone fancy a swim? 💙 Rather envious today! This section of a wider garden is finding its rhythm beautifully & it's a relief to see how well everything's performing in this heat. One can't help but appreciate a client's foresight including a pool in the brief! #GardenDesign

Anyone else feeling weirdly flat about their garden right now? Turns out the sceince suggests the most productive thing we can do is nothing at all... https://open.substack.com/pub/myrealgardens/p/the-august-slump-when-your-gardens?r=9b2c7&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

This is where our contemporary country courtyard begins transitioning into the surrounding countryside. Verbena bonariensis weaves through tawny grasses creates the relaxed naturalistic beauty we love. Sometimes in garden design the best approach is to let nature take the lead isn't it?

Sometimes the most intimate spaces deliver the greatest impact. This contemporary country courtyard, nestled within a former six-acre orchard, proves that bold design can transform a tricky space into something rather extraordinary. #AMPGDesign #BoldVibrantBiodiverse

Spoil heaps to show gardens, and why I got emotional about my miner grandad's allotment. What I thought about RHS Wentworth Woodhouse https://open.substack.com/pub/myrealgardens/p/yorkshire-pride-open-cast-mining?r=9b2c7&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

This week's My Real Gardens newsletter shares 10 cottage garden plant swaps from our Hampton Court Palace plans that could climate-proof your garden too. https://open.substack.com/pub/myrealgardens/p/our-hampton-court-palace-climate?r=9b2c7&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

The AMPG midsummer studio plant ident session in a kimchi jar! Are your plants ahead or behind of these this season? From pollinator appeal to seasonal performance, learning directly from the plants in my garden keeps our studio planting design work sharp. #boldvibrantbiodiverse

Big specimen trees need expert planting. These 40-45cm Parrotia persica from @griffinnurseries planted by @LocationLandscapes with root irrigation from day one. June planting? With proper watering it works fine. Can't wait to see the autumn colour!

Chelsea Physic Garden – four acres of botanical brilliance I'd foolishly ignored for decades. Every plant earns its place through usefulness. The best design inspiration comes from places perfecting their craft since 1673! Plus Five Favourite Finds return! https://loom.ly/pvQH7HY

I can confirm that the British Library stage was properly daunting! But the passion in the room for creating climate-resilient gardens where people & planet thrive? Electric. See the Unearthed exhibition & there's a book too! https://events.bl.uk/exhibitions/unearthed-the-power-of-gardening

Precision work on our West Sussex project as York stone reclaimed from the site takes on new life. Graduate Landscapes showing exceptional skill, reusing each weathered slab. Why waste that natural patination? It's the perfect backdrop for vibrant planting! #AMPGDesign #GardenConstruction

This evening at 6pm at the @BritishLibrary - how will we garden in 2075? Join me, Ruth Chivers & designers exploring climate-resilient gardens that heal communities & nurture biodiversity. From windowsills to acres, discover the gardens of tomorrow. £12 tickets available!

You know sometimes you meet someone and you just click? So it was with garden photographer @julieskelton.bsky.social Every shoot for my new book with Frances Lincoln has been a joy. Need a talented photographer with a big heart & can-do attitude? Julie’s your gal!