A familiar and popular personality in professional gardening circles, Ann-Marie Powell is the founder of the Hampshire based Ann-Marie Powell Garden (AMPG) studio. Powell is an award-winning RHS Chelsea garden designer, tv-presenter, journalist, winner of Society of Garden Designers’ awards, patron for the Greenfingers charity and designer of two RHS Wisley Hilltop gardens (World Food Garden and the Wildlife Garden).
In addition to their regular projects, AMPG have now launched their new Small Projects Services to extend their services to a wider range of clients with more defined budgets and spaces of various sizes. According to AMPG, the new services cater for: urban or rural based homeowners with (compact) gardens, balconies, country plots or balconies; commercial clients such as schools, community spaces or small businesses looking to enhance their outdoor areas.
The new AMPG Small Project Design services include; comprehensive garden design packages for various budgets (up to £20,000 and £20,000-£50,000); detailed planting plans for those keen to refresh existing beds, create new borders, or source the perfect plants for their garden; professional consultations in person, or via zoom; and structured design packages for independent implementation.
Extending professional garden designer services to clients with smaller budgets makes commercial sense. A survey by the Society of Garden Designers conducted in 2019, revealed that 40% of Brits would consider employing a professional garden designer. A significant percentage, which after the pandemic will probably be even higher. It also leaves, a large percentage of people whom may not have considered hiring a professional, possibly on account of the (small) size of their garden, or fear of not being able to afford a high-profile garden designer. Consideriung that 87% of UK households have a garden (2021), with an average size of which is 188m², there is a substantial business opportunity out there for garden designers. Especially as the survey (2019) also revealed that 50% of Brits believe a well-designed garden is as important or more important than a well-designed bathroom or kitchen.
Commenting on the AMPG announcement, author Stephen Parker wrote, “This is genius and so so clever..I have a large suburban garden which I have been struggling to ‘modernise’ but thought I would be laughed at for even considering approaching yourselves or others…after all a few suburban gardens are the equivalent of a large garden!! I applaud you for doing this and am putting my thinking cap on as we speak…”