This week I’m speaking to Mark Laurence. For decades, Mark has been at the vanguard of sustainable and ecologically sensitive landscape and garden design. He currently specialises in coastal plants and gardens and in this interview we cover what makes a coastal garden, which types of plants fare well on the coast and whether these gardens can be havens for wildlife.

Dr Ian Bedford’s Bug of the Week: Flatworms

This episode is sponsored by gardencourses.com. gardencourses.com offers online horticultural training for those looking to develop their own, home gardens. The lasted course to be added is Create Your Garden Sanctuary - you can go to gardencourses.com to find out more. 

What we cover

Mark’s background and work

What is a coastal garden? How far can a garden be from the sea and still be classified as coastal?

Some of the challenges facing plants in a coastal garden

Plants that do well by the coast and plants don't fare well

Coastal gardens and wildlife

Trees for coastal gardens

Further resources (or not!)

About Mark Laurence

Since 1987 Mark has worked as a designer, specialising in sustainable and adaptive landscapes, natural “drift” planting, coastal, water & rain gardens, living walls and vertical green infrastructure for urban environments.  He is a current committee member (Technical & Sustainability) and has been a keynote speaker at SDG and other conferences. He works locally and internationally, creating water gardens in USA, living walls in London, Trondheim, Chicago and Dubai. 

Mark is a chartered horticulturalist and consults on horticulture and arboriculture in the Middle East. 

He has a passion for creating nurturing and relaxed gardens and landscapes which connect people to nature and place.

https://www.sgd.org.uk/find_a_designer/search_for_a_designer/designers/f4775253-4f5d-4eaf-8fc1-cdb3b3755524/

Links

www.marklaurence.com

Mark Laurence on Facebook 

www.gardencourses.com