Crolla

Garden Design | Hackney

Based on the Norfolk – Suffolk border, Crolla Studio is a garden design company that works from small back-yards to large landscapes, from hour-long ‘garden design chats’ to fully managing the creation of a new garden design on a bare site. We work across East Anglia, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire.

Our focus is always on the individual we are working for; what they need and want from a garden, what plants they like, and what kind of budget they have.

And we major on sustainability by using reclaimed materials, perennials that don’t need replacing every season, and drought-tolerant plants.

Crolla Studio is all about designing gardens that make sense for the people we work for, and to create wonderful gardens they will love for a lifetime!

Garden Design

The heart of what we do is Garden Design: designing the entirety of gardens, big and small, around the needs and tastes of each of our clients.

Our Garden Design service is for a complete design that describes a garden’s character, the layout of beds, trees, shrubs and hard landscaping, and the specification of materials and features like gazebos and ponds. We can then also provide full planting plans (see our Planting Design service) or give you guidance on plants that will work well with your design.

Because everyone and their garden is unique, after an initial free call and your response to our simple ten-point questionnaire, we’ll come to see you in your garden. Here you’ll tell us what you like — and don’t! — how you’d like to use your garden and what ideas you might already have for it. We discuss the character and style of the design, if you want to attract more wildlife or cater for children, if you’d like to actively garden or would like something that’s low-maintenance.

We then write a detailed brief based on our conversation, discuss this with you to ensure it contains all the elements you’d like, and then, based on the signed-off brief, will pass you a clear costed proposal detailing what we would do and how much each element will cost.

We start with a free phone call, so please get in touch to see how we can help.

Whitwell Garden design plan showing new areas of seating, path, pond, trees and shrubs — Whitwell Garden Design Plan setting out new areas of seating, path, pond, trees and shrubs

Planting Design

The temptation to buy plants that ‘speak to you’ in the garden centre happens to us all. This can – and often does – lead to disappointment, as you plant them out, watch them grow briefly and then watch as they whither and die.

Plants are beautiful but sensitive to conditions so knowing what to plant where is key. Getting the ‘right plant for the right place’ is essential in creating a year-round healthy and lasting garden. We have three different Planting Design services to help with this, each costed based on the size of your borders or beds and what you want from them:

1. PLANTING PLANS_
Designing with plants to suit your brief and your garden: we help you decide a design direction and plant ‘atmosphere’ for a complete border area, depending on your taste, soil and garden aspect, and then design a detailed Planting Plan showing what plants are planted exactly where, when they will come into bloom, and what care they will need during the year.

2. BORDER ‘SOS’_
Bring your existing plant borders back to better health: whether your borders are adversely affected by weather extremes or looking patchy or tired, we review them and choose a selection of plants that look great, work well together, and with your soil and aspect. Then we give you a photograph of what you have today annotated to show what and where you might add new plants.

3. PLANT AUDIT_
Helping you decide on next steps: what’s growing well and what’s not — we undertake a Plant Audit as the best basis to know how to step forwards. This we provide in the form of annotated photographs on which each plant name is detailed along with a description of how well it is doing, and an accompanying summary of the health of the plants in your garden.

Get in touch to arrange a call or for more information.

Dry Garden Design Plan showing planting for an accessible gravel garden featuring a bespoke bench

Garden Surgery

Many people do not need a complete Garden Design but want to improve what they have, explore new ideas, or have a second opinion about their plans — and for them we have three types of Garden Surgery.

1. GARDEN CHAT | £250
A relaxed, hour-long chat in your outdoor space to give you useful tips in which ever area you’d like. This could be initial design suggestions, answering plant-health questions, or more general horticulture queries. We will give you advise on how to do things yourself, or on options for outside help to move things forward.

2. GARDEN CONSULTATION | £350
After learning from you the headlines about your garden challenge, we spend two hours with you in your outdoor space to define your challenge and to relay useful, practical, and creative solutions. Two days later we follow-up with a one-page written summary of what we discussed during our visit.

3. GARDEN SURGERY PRESCRIPTION | £500
A Garden Consultation with a multi-page detailed summary along with a prescription: ideas with visual references; a ‘key plant suggestions’ list; some additional helpful tips to get the most out of your garden.

Get in touch to book in a chat or consultation.

Two people discussing a garden among tall planting — Discussing plants.

Our Work

We have a broad base of expertise, from full garden redesigns to creating beautiful borders. Here are case studies detailing a few of our clients projects, and how we approached them.

Case study 1

A mid-sized garden in a village setting, with grown-up children no longer needing a lawn. Our client always wanted a cottage-style garden, full of flowers to attract more pollinators.

Photo: © Melanie Crolla

Cottage-Style Planting Design | Hertfordshire

We created Lotty a Planting Design full of beautiful perennials, carefully chosen to suite her soil and aspect, and provide year-round interest.

Now, not only do she and her family love it, but the garden is a joy shared with friends, relatives and pollinators too.

Lotty ‘From the initial design, through the construction stage, to the planting and after-care, Mel’s approach was collaborative and professional. She initially took time to establish my preference for the planting style of garden and the way in which I wanted to use the space, and then produced detailed plans which encapsulated my vision of a cottage garden with plants to encourage pollinators. I am delighted with the garden, which is even better than I initially envisaged, and I am excited to see it grow and evolve over the coming years.’

Case study 2

A small, west-facing garden, overlooked in places, with a limited budget...

Fulham Garden Design Plan | London

We used an angled grid in our Garden Design for Sara-Jane, as this creates the sense of increased depth in a smaller garden.

We strategically positioned large shrubs and small trees in places where the garden is over-looked, which will provide a wonderful sense of privacy once grown in.

Sara-Jane ‘I love the way Mel designs. She works intuitively, quietly listening, making little sketches, as I ramble on about a landscape of conflicting ideas for my garden. It’s as if she can slip into my imagination, creating sense out of my chaos – and the results are so beautiful. It’s going to be my little haven in the middle of London! I can’t wait for the next phase.’

Case study 3

Our client is a fair-weather gardener, concerned about garden upkeep with a small, north-facing garden, covered in paving and nothing to draw people into it.

Streatham Garden | London

We met Ben in his garden, after an initial phone call, and suggested some things we could do. This led to a Garden Design that provided places to sit and enjoy a fully greened space. Now it is a garden he loves to be in as often as possible.

We provided Ben with a ‘Plant List & Care’ document and visit twice a year to help tidy, edit and guide him in caring for his garden.

Ben

Message from Ben: Just back from a long weekend in Ibiza, just sitting in the garden having a cup of tea, it is gorgeous

Case study 4

A garden with borders along the sides and a path down the middle, with no places to sit and enjoy it at different times of day and year. Larger patio needed for entertaining.

Whitwell Garden | Hertfordshire

We felt this garden needed a journey through it, with a natural flow from house to gate.

Our Garden Design centred around a meandering path that cuts through an abundance of flowers, scented perennials, herbs and roses. There are now places to entertain, sit and relax, with a sunny bench to watch the wildlife pond and a place to enjoy cocktails at the end of a day in the glowing warmth of the evening sun.

Lotty ‘Mel’s design has cleverly given an illusion of greater space, incorporating both structure, interesting planting, plenty of seating areas, and a wildlife pond. She has designed a bespoke handrail which includes a motif from our stained glass windows, and it is beautiful in its simplicity.’

Case study 5

Nothing was thriving in the garden. Plants were impulse-bought from garden centres, planted and, in a short time, died...

Photo: © Melanie Crolla

Shady Garden Planting Design | London

We created a Planting Plan, with a small feature tree, evergreen shrubs, scented climbers and perennials that suited the garden’s soil and aspect, and would bring year-round interest to Theo’s garden.

We improved the soil before planting, helped him understand the importance of mulching and gave him a guide to seasonal plant care.

Theo ‘I can’t believe there can be so much colour in a shady garden! Seasonally too – there is always something interesting to look at, whether combinations of colour and texture, or in winter, plant skeletons amongst leafy evergreens.’

Case study 6

A small, north-facing London garden, with large trees, little light and poor clay soil...

Woodland planting beside a fallen log in a London garden

Photo: © Melanie Crolla

Consultation | London

Advice we gave Vicky through a Garden Consultation helped her understand more about how to plan and develop her garden, despite the challenges of poor clay soil and a shortage of sun.

We talked about permissions needed to remove the two large trees dominating the garden, and how to improve the soil. The garden is now happier, healthier, lighter and full of leaf and flower.

Vicky ‘I highly recommend Mel for garden projects of different scales - whether you’re looking to completely redesign your garden or make some key strategic interventions. Mel is lovely to work with - she listens really well and is enthusiastic and encouraging, which is particularly good for new or inexperienced gardeners.’

About Us

Crolla Studio specialises in garden and outdoor space design. Our guiding principals are sustainability and biodiversity and we use materials that are recycled, up-cycled or reclaimed wherever possible. We look to traditional craft in build and material use, using natural and sustainable materials where possible. Our planting approach is to use climate, soil and aspect relevant plants with as much habitat and pollinator provision as possible. We encourage water collection and re-use for sustainable garden maintenance regardless of the size of the project.

Our studio founder, Mel Crolla, is evangelical about being outside, engaging with nature and encouraging people to enjoy any space they have that allows this. Crolla Studios mission is to make being outdoors preferable to being in. Our services range from garden and plant consultations to full garden redesigns, alongside working with landscapers to bring them to life.

Having worked as a graphic and interior designer for many years, she brings her expertise in spatial design and strategic thinking into the garden sphere. All her projects benefit from her intuitive use of texture, material and colour, and each garden project is given its own sense of identity, making it unique to each client.

Our focus is on our clients – what they need and want from a garden, what plants they like and how much budget they have to work with. We design gardens that make sense for the people we work for – creating wonderful gardens they will love for a lifetime!

Up-cycled planter made from clay land-drains and hop-drying tiles, creating habitats — Upcycled materials create new habitats: clay land-drains and hop-drying tiles become a planter

Materials on site, prepared ready for build in the Whitwell garden — Upcycled materials create new habitats: clay land-drains and hop-drying tiles become a planter

Making spaces for biodiversity to thrive

Hands on planting and garden making with ongoing support if needed

Reusing materials found on-site where possible

Whitwell handrail design sketch: working alongside craftspeople for bespoke elements

Inspiration

Inspired by nature, our approach to plants is informed by studying how they thrive in wild places, how micro-climates help support plant communities and the plain brilliance of how plants combine to make beautiful ‘gardens’ in the wild.

Plants are keenly photographed; colours, forms and textures observed through the seasons; and notes taken of what lives amongst them.

Landscapes play a key part in inspiration and information gathering, experiencing and studying how light, the changing seasons and climate, affect a landscape and how we respond to it.

Qualifications

Mel has a Level 3 Diploma in Garden Design from Capel Manor College, and Level 3 Certificates in Plants & Planting and Principles & Practice. For both she was awarded certificates of achievement and recognition as Best Student.

Mel photographing wild heathland planting — Being inspired by plant and place

Grasses, ferns and foxgloves growing in the wild — Being inspired by plant and place

Conditions for thriving healthy plants — Observing the right conditions for plants to thrive

Habitats and those living within them — Healthy habitats and those living within them

Garden and nursery visits for up-to-date research — Up-to-date research and knowledge with regular garden and nursery visits

Natural materials and craft traditions — Respecting natural materials and craft traditions

Awards

VANDE MOORTEL CLAY PAVER AWARDS 2025 – 2026_
‘The Vande Moortel Clay Paver Awards highlight outstanding projects in which Vande Moortel clay pavers play a defining role in often demanding environments. Through this competition, we aim to recognise designers for their inspiring achievements. Projects that combine or demonstrate craftsmanship, sustainability, use of materials and exceptional spatial quality have the chance to earn a place on our wall of fame.’

Our garden design for the Streatham Garden project has been short-listed in the ‘City Garden’ category. With our guiding principle of sustainability, we cleaned and lifted the existing Indian Sandstone paving and created a design that wove Vande Moortel Olive Clay Pavers amongst it to add texture, character and interest to the previously fully-paved London city garden. We added two small trees, evergreen shrubs and climbers, and borders full of floriferous and scented perennials to green the space and soften the edges of the paving.

Vande Moortel Olive Clay Pavers combined with re-used Indian Sandstone — Combining Vande Moortel Olive Clay Pavers with the re-use of existing Indian Sandstone

Clay pavers and gravel around new shade planting, seen from above — Combining Vande Moortel Olive Clay Pavers with the re-use of existing Indian Sandstone

Get In Touch

Email_ info@crollastudio.com
Instagram_ @crollastudio

Based in Bungay, on the Norfolk | Suffolk border, we work across East Anglia, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire with projects also in London.