Four gardens, photographed after they settled.

A steeply sloping plot that the previous owners had terraced into three unusable strips. We took it back to two generous levels, put a timber garden room at the top where the view is, and let the lower half go to meadow.

A north-facing walled courtyard behind a Georgian terrace that got direct sun for about ninety minutes a day. The answer was pale stone, a water bowl to move light around, and planting chosen entirely for shade tolerance.

A long garden running down to a stream, with heavy clay and a drainage problem nobody had properly diagnosed. Half the budget went underground before a single plant was ordered, which is not glamorous but is why it still works.