Terra & Thistle
Sound familiar?
A garden is the only room that appreciates — if it has structure.
Flowers are furniture. Structure is the house: the dry-stone wall that anchors the lawn in February, the hedgerow that blocks the wind the neighbour's yard sends, the rill you hear from the study. Terra & Thistle builds the structure first, because structure is what makes a garden improve.
- Designed by horticulturists Planting plans built on soil, exposure and the month you actually host — not on whatever was blooming at the garden centre.
- Stone, water, structure Dry-stone walls, rills, terraces and pergolas from our mason partners — the permanent architecture a garden hangs on.
- Photographed at year ten We return at year five and ten to photograph every garden. The portfolio you see is gardens aging well, not installs on day one.
Year ten, and day one
The gardens
Water features
Rills, fountains and reflecting pools — engineered, planted, maintained. From $22k.
Stone terraces & walls
Dry-stone and mortared work from partner masons. The garden's bones. From $18k.
Planting design
Horticulturist-led plans for your soil and season — installed and guaranteed. From $9k.
The craft
Consult, draw, build, keep
The studio consult
Soil tests, exposure mapping, and the hosting calendar — when does this garden need to peak? $350, credited to design.
The master plan
Structure, water, planting and phasing on one drawn document — buildable in stages across years if that suits the estate.
Build & keep
Our crews and masons build; our gardeners keep it at the standard of the plan. Twelve-month plant guarantee, quarterly care, year-ten photograph.
They phased our garden over three winters to match cash flow, and each phase looked finished — never a construction site with promises. The rill is audible from my study. That detail alone.
Year-ten photograph arrived in the post like a school portrait of the garden. It looked BETTER than install day — which is the entire philosophy, proven.
Two designers quoted us flowers. Terra & Thistle quoted us walls, water and one spectacular June. The June delivered; so do the walls, every February.
Commissions
Studio consult + soil study$350
Credited to design
Master planfrom $6,500
Structure, water, planting, phasing
Planting design + installfrom $9k
Horticulturist-led, guaranteed
Stone & waterfrom $18k
With partner masons
Estate carefrom $520/qtr
Quarterly, the design team
Can we phase a big garden over years?
It is how a third of our estates are built: the master plan sequences phases so every stage looks complete and no paving ever gets dug up twice. Cash flow and gardens both benefit from patience.
Do you maintain what you design?
Our gardeners keep most of our gardens — they hold the plan, the plant list and the intent. Gardens we did not design: we will advise, but our crews build and keep the studio's own work.
What if I want flowers, mostly?
Then you will get flowers on a structure that makes them look intentional — the drifts and rivers of perennials in our portfolio all sit on walls, paths and hedges that carry the garden when nothing blooms. Structure is not the opposite of flowers; it is their stage.
How early should we start?
Design in summer for a build that starts after leaf-fall, or design in winter for spring structure. The consult calendar is the honest answer: it books about six weeks out.
Plant the garden your grandchildren will photograph.
The studio consult is $350 and credits into the master plan.
Terra & Thistle Studio · Lic. LC-77301 · Horticulturist-led · 2 Creek Ln, Willow Creek