Thompson's new book - The New Romantic Garden - explores colour, atmosphere and modern romanticism in 30 gardens with ideas on how to adapt traditional garden design elements for today’s more ecologically-based aesthetics. This follows her 2022 tome on harmonious colour palettes.
She says clients are wary of ‘climate resilient’ planting because they’ve seem it look untidy in show gardens, so she is often asked about achieving it while also making sure a garden is beautiful and atmospheric. The new book covers all this and more and aims to make her approach accessible to all.
Thompson has won four Chelsea golds and five silver gilts, and a People's Choice award too. In her Chelsea Flower Show garden in 2025 she will be showing elements of a more natural, looser planting style, the idea being to show ‘re-natured’ gardens as opposed to ‘re-wilded’ ones, which many of her clients with larger gardens are keen to achieve. The garden is for The Glasshouse, a social enterprise providing training and employment to women in prison alongside resettlement support as they approach the end of their sentence.
The book's case studies show off past designs at everywhere from historic Kent estates to inner city gardens.
Roses and arbours are her signature but there's more than that, though, tellingly, David Austin Roses is among thank yous.
Overall, the book beautifully showcases Thompson's pretty and popular design style and philosophy and her "fascination with enhancing a space's potential until it’s able to romance every single visitor".
