Daryl Gannon Landscapes

Garden design and build Herne Bay, Kent

Design
matters.

Gardens designed and built by one company, from the first drawing to the last plant. For homes across Kent, Essex and London.

A small garden in Herne Bay: a circle of pale porcelain set in gravel, a round stone water bowl, a curving clay-paver path and ferns, against a black fence.
Herne Bay, 2025 The brief: soft lines, nothing too harsh, and a restful spot to relax and read.

One vision. One company. One cohesive result.

Daryl Gannon has over 30 years in the industry, in London and now from Herne Bay on the Kent coast. He draws the garden, chooses the stone, timber and plants, and then builds it, so what you agree on paper is what goes in the ground.

Drawn, visualised, built: a garden in Ramsgate

  1. Daryl's pen drawing of the Ramsgate garden in plan: long paving slabs with narrow planted gaps, a circle for the bowl, a multi-stem tree and planting all round.

    The drawing. Every slab, gap and tree placed by hand.

  2. The 3D visual of the same garden from above: a dining table on pale stone with green strips between the slabs, a bowl, a black outdoor counter, a tree and white-flowering planting.

    The visual. So the garden can be seen before it's built.

  3. The finished garden in Ramsgate: long pale Jura limestone slabs with narrow gravel joints planted with small plants, a grey stone bowl, a black slatted fence and a tree.

    The garden. Ramsgate, 2023. Built by Daryl, start to finish.

Find each one in all three

Every great garden starts with a plan. This coastal Georgian garden was carefully designed, visualised and then built by me from start to finish.

Daryl, on the Ramsgate garden
A low curved retaining wall faced in brown-red Verona clay pavers set on end, sweeping round pale porcelain paving beside an oak post and new planting.

Whitstable 2025

Quiet details. Strong presence.

The brief

To screen the imposing neighbour's garage, replace the rotting sleeper wall and patio, and make full use of the entire garden.

Pleached hornbeams make a floating screen in front of the garage. The new retaining wall is faced in Verona clay pavers, set on end in a staggered bond and cut to follow the curve, with a slim shadow gap where it meets the porcelain.

Strong, sculptural and tactile, the finished wall nods to brutalist form while retaining the warmth of natural clay.

Daryl
  1. The wall under construction: a concrete-block core with clay pavers being fixed along the curve.

    1 A concrete-block core

  2. Close-up of clay pavers, each one cut at an angle so the run bends round the curve.

    2 Each paver shaped to the curve

  3. Clay pavers stood on end around the curve, fanned out before grouting.

    3 Set on end, fixed and grouted

Ingrave, Essex 2025

Minimal palette, maximum impact.

The brief

All plants were to be evergreen, limited to various shades of green with no additional colour. The only permitted flower colour was white, with rosemary the sole exception.

A generous terrace for entertaining, and a sunken patio with an open fireplace as its focal point. Two Magnolia grandiflora soften the corners.

Find them in the photograph

The Ingrave garden from above, like a plan: an oak pergola over a sunken patio, a dark open fireplace, a round table on a herringbone clay-paver rug, a hardwood deck in front and evergreen planting along black fences.
An olive tree frames a long floating cedar bench against a Corten-clad raised bed of tree ferns, with vertical cedar battens behind and pale terrazzo paving with a slot drain.

Tankerton, Whitstable 2025

It shouldn't demand attention. It should simply feel right.

The house has a lounge at one end and a kitchen at the other, so the garden was designed as a view from every angle. At its centre is a reflective pool with a glass walkway over the water.

Raised beds clad in Corten, a floating cedar bench, vertical cedar battens on the boundary and porcelain terrazzo in soft orange, beige and black.

Looking down through bright green tree-fern fronds at the glass walkway over dark water, set into pale paving.
The glass walkway over the pool.

Planting, from Daryl's notes

Tree ferns, layered with Tetrapanax, Schefflera and Fatsia, alongside Nandina, Mahonia and Pittosporum. In the Corten trough, a clean-stem Trachycarpus with Pinus mugo and Metrosideros, underplanted with rosemary and Erigeron.

White-rendered house with new red-framed glazed doors, a banana plant and grasses in a round Corten planter on gravel beside the terrazzo paving.
Eight months on. The clients always had a clear colour palette, so every material in the garden was chosen to suit it. Since then they've renovated the house, finishing with new doors in Coral Red.

How it works

Designed with you, then built by the same company.

Whether you're starting with a blank canvas or reworking an existing garden, Daryl guides you through the design process. His own three words for it: inspire, design, create.

  1. 1Inspire

    It starts with a conversation about how you want to use the garden. Mood boards bring together materials, furniture and plant colour.

    From the first initial meeting, even before quoting, Daryl was providing great advice and recommendations. Client, 2024

  2. 2Design

    A drawn plan and a visual, so you see the garden before it's built. Seating, storage and features are designed in from the start, not added on.

  3. 3Create

    Daryl builds what he designs. Where it makes sense the build is phased: the design stays the same, only the timeline changes.

  4. 4Afterwards

    Return visits to see how the planting has settled, and to replace anything the winter has taken.

    Daryl has followed up regularly to answer any questions and has visited the garden to make sure the plants have taken well. Client, 2024

Daryl takes on Complete garden remodels Entertaining spaces New features Planting schemes Design only, for contemporary outdoor spaces

Black and white portrait of Daryl Gannon in a black roll-neck.

About Daryl

No room for squares.

That was the name of Daryl's small garden at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in 2005. The design came from a Hank Mobley album cover on Blue Note, and it won an RHS Bronze Medal. Circles and curves have run through his gardens ever since.

Before Herne Bay, Daryl worked in London, building courtyards and roof terraces from Old Ford to Old Street. Marrakech, and its gardens hidden behind closed doors, has been a source of ideas for years.

In 2025 he was part of the team behind The Pursuit of Excellence at the BBC Gardeners' World fair at Audley End: six landscape companies and two designers, marking 30 years of the Association of Professional Landscapers. It won a Platinum Award and Best in Show.

Daryl's 2005 Hampton Court show garden: a pale circular platform inset with smaller circles of aggregate, inside a curved wall, with lush planting.
No Room for Squares, RHS Hampton Court, 2005. Bronze Medal.
Based in
Herne Bay, Kent
In the industry
Over 30 years
Working across
Kent, Essex and London

Reviews

Artistic, creative, hardworking and 100% honest. Daryl has transformed our garden into something truly remarkable and completely unrecognisable.

Keef M. Facebook review, 2018

Daryl turned my sketch on a piece of A4 paper into a reality.

Lyndsey G. Facebook review, 2020

Daryl designed our townhouse garden, although the space was smallish the design impact is incredibly high and we love the space.

Ramsgate townhouse garden Client review, 2023

The garden lighting was fitted just before Christmas. Even after working all day, Daryl came back in the evening to greatly improve the effect of the lighting.

New-build garden Client review, 2024

100% recommend on Facebook 7 reviews

Tell Daryl about your garden.

The first step is a conversation. Call, email or send a few details here, and Daryl will be in touch to talk it through.

Based in Herne Bay. Working with homeowners across Kent, Essex, London and further afield.

A phone number or an email is fine, whichever suits you.

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