About Garden Care
How we came to be one of the best garden care providers in Surrey and South West London.
It started with a passion for gardening
When Garden Care was founded in 1967 by Bart Patrick snr (a team of two maintaining private gardens and grounds), it was a far cry from what it would grow into only 16 years later. By 1983 the company was a large gardening organisation with premises in Brighton Road Surbiton, the Old Manor Yard in Manor Road South, Hinchley Wood, a yard in Lime Grove, New Malden, a workshop in the Electric Parade, Surbiton and a print works in Southsea Road, Kingston!
Bart Snr decided to consolidate the business and relocate to a new site and after investigation, the company secured the current premises in Old Kingston Road, Worcester Park and moved there in 1984.
The central nursery site is a former council nursery and, at the time, was rather run down. But it meant that for the first time in 17 years everything, apart from the print works, could operate under the same roof. To finalise the consolidation, the print works & hardware shop were sold soon after moving to the current site.
In 1987 Garden Care became Garden Care Supplies Limited and in 2008 Court Farm Garden Centre was created as the trading arm of the business. 2017 saw the company celebrate its 50th anniversary and in 2020 the Court Farm Garden Centre business was taken over by the existing Café tenant.
Horticulture is in our blood
Marc Patrick, the current Managing Director of Garden Care, and his team are all horticulture experts who have honed their skills through many years of working in the gardening industry. Marc joined the family business in 1986, as a gardener assistant, and after working his way up, now has several RHS medals to his name. Managing director since 2003, after Bart Patrick snr retired, Marc has navigated the Garden Care business into being one of the best suppliers of garden care services in the area covering; North Surrey, Wimbledon, New Malden, Kingston and Esher, to name a few.
“A passion for horticulture and the environment we live in”
Award-winning garden construction and design
The Garden Care team have worked alongside many award-winning garden designers and have exhibited four times at the Hampton Court Flower show, winning three silver gilt and one gold medal with Helen Williams Garden Design and Sadolin Woodcare. They were also awarded the ‘people’s choice’ award in 2010, with Philippa Pearson and Girlguiding UK. The team bring their formidable skills to bear on all projects they undertake, ensuring they fulfil their aim to “create your garden oasis, your chill out zone, giving you a tranquil place to relax and enjoy”.
Insights into our work and ethos - Marc explains why choosing Garden Care for your project is different from the rest.
“As a unique company within our field, we offer all the services in horticulture from tree surgery, plants and sundries, garden maintenance, to design and landscaping, all in-house. There is no need to employ all the different trades, we have them. We can simply coordinate your job and ensure that creating your dream garden is a simple, hassle-free journey from our initial visit to completion. Our ethos is 100% horticulture; we deal in quality, efficient construction that is sympathetic to your garden and realises your dreams. We work with nature rather than against it. Our expert team of landscape gardeners have years of experience providing a range of high quality landscaping services to customers in Kingston, Sutton, Worcester Park and beyond.
You’ll find our office ‘The landscape Lodge’ and yard, based at Court Farm Garden Centre, near Tolworth. Here we have our landscape design demonstration gardens. These showcase our craftsmanship and some of the materials we use, meaning we can show you what certain elements of your new garden will look like before it is constructed. We can offer our expertise on all aspects of your landscaping project, from initial design of your garden to tree surgery and clearance, laying paving and erecting walls, creating bespoke timber structures, turfing and finally shrub and tree planting. With 55 years’ experience in providing a fully inclusive service we are capable of any garden construction or implementation. We are used to working with designers and offer a flexible, adaptable approach to our work.
We always follow a code of practice, comply with all the latest health and safety requirements and are fully vetted annually and insured.”
Responsible gardening
It would be pointless to work with nature and not care for the environment, so at Garden Care all waste removed is brought back to base. It is then taken by D&E Roberts Ltd to a facility to be recycled. As such, this means 100% of Garden Care’s green waste is recycled. The composted and screened product created by the plant is then purchased for use on client’s gardens, effectively recycling it again.
Currently Garden Care are trialling a team using solely electric battery powered commercial machinery, with the aim of rolling this out across the business to replace all petrol driven tools. These tools are quieter and more environmentally friendly, making them a great choice for our teams and clients too.
Garden Care’s fleet of vehicles are also getting the green makeover, with three Euro 6 vans in operation and more to come.
“We pride ourselves on happy clients and looking after our staff. We are a close-knit team and consequently our staff turnover is low and repeat custom is frequent.”
MEET THE MANAGEMENT TEAM
MARC PATRICK
MANAGING DIRECTOR
Marc has over 30 years experience of working in horticulture. Starting as a gardening assistant and landscaper after leaving school.
Five years on, Marc went to Merrist Wood agricultural college and studied full-time in horticulture and landscape construction. Marc also ran the family Garden Care nursery at weekends and used this time to further his plant knowledge. It clearly paid off because Marc was awarded the Eric Frost memorial prize whilst at Merrist Wood and achieved the highest possible grade.
In 1992 Marc became Garden Maintenance Manager, followed in 1995 by an appointment as a director of the company and then became Managing Director a few years later. Marc has achieved a great deal since 1995. His efforts aided the company in achieving four Royal Horticultural Society medals at the Hampton Court Flower show, including a People’s Choice Award and a Gold Medal.
He managed to plan and convert the family nursery into a garden centre with café and retail areas to suit.
Marc is passionate about horticulture, an expert in landscape construction and a master problem solver. He has a unique knowledge and experience gained over the 30 years that covers so many aspects of the industry; from tree hazard identification, to pruning and planting schemes, to dealing with neighbour disputes, or advising on safety at children’s playgrounds. Alongside this he has an extensive portfolio of construction and planting designs that grows every year. Marc prides himself in turning people’s garden dreams and aspirations into reality.
Privately Marc has a passion for the outdoors, the environment and travel. He can often be found on his time-out enjoying a walk in the countryside or on the beach.
TIM BUNNEY
CONTRACTS MANAGER
Tim has worked for Garden Care since 2013. His career changed from physically building gardens, to using his extensive experience to oversee our team. Tim has been in the landscaping industry for 40 years. Starting with working for Merton Council in the landscape and arboriculture departments in the early 80s, he learnt the trade alongside attending college, where he obtained qualifications in horticulture and landscaping.
After leaving Merton Council, Tim co-founded a landscaping company. After six years he made the move to become a freelance sub contractor, allowing him to work on high-end landscaping projects, becoming teams lead on designer generated works. Tim’s talent created the opportunity to work on medal winning gardens at both Chelsea and Hampton Court flower shows and also move around the country building show gardens for new building projects.
Tim cares strongly about the environment, trying to be as green as possible within the modern landscape industry, with projects containing wild flower banks and using sustainable materials whenever possible.
When not at work Tim likes to keep fit by going to the gym and rowing a Cornish Pilot Gig. Tim is a member of the London Cornish Pilot Gig Rowing Club, based on the Thames. He also enjoys travel, walking his dog, walking without his dog and long weekends in his camper van.
KELLI FENECH
GARDEN MAINTENANCE ADMIN MANAGER
Kelli has worked for Garden Care since 2014, having previously worked for 10 years in retail supervisory and management roles.
Kelli began her time at Garden Care as a general office assistant supporting the admin team. Since beginning a full-time role in 2020, she has progressed to managing the day-to-day administration and organisation of our Garden Maintenance department.
Being the catalyst between team and client, Kelli has great organisational and leadership skills. Currently alongside her normal day-to-day duties, Kelli is studying for an RHS level 2 certificate in horticulture.
In her spare time Kelli enjoys reading, art, walking and spending time with her teenage son.
TRACEY PIKE
ADMINISTRATION MANAGER
Tracey has worked for Garden Care since 2016, having previously worked in finance & administration for 30 years.
At Garden Care she has been able to combine her love of gardening with managing our busy office. Tracey is 100% customer focused and is the linchpin of the admin team, ensuring that the day-to-day running of the company and the needs of the client are forefront and in focus.
Tracey has been integral in turning our office into a paper free environment and also enabling better job management and control.
In her spare time, she enjoys long walks on the South Coast with her family, cooking & reading.
LOUIS PATRICK
CONTRACT SUPERVISOR
Louis started his working life at Waitrose in Esher, in this role he learnt excellence in customer service. He then joined Garden Care in 2018 working in the family Garden Centre. He worked mainly in the plant area offering customers advice and building up his knowledge by also looking after the plants according to horticultural best practice.
After gaining some valuable knowledge of plants, Louis began working in the landscaping department as a Landscapers Assistant, this helped him to start learning about basic landscaping.
Louis took this a step further when in late 2019 he began attending Merrist Wood College, studying full time in Level 3 Horticulture and Landscape construction. After finishing his level 3 course in July 2021, Louis returned to Garden Care taking up the role of Garden Maintenance Team Leader. This role allowed Louis to further improve his knowledge and skillset in horticulture. He worked as a Garden Maintenance Team Leader on two of our rounds up until December 2022 when he moved to the admin team. He now uses the experience gained over the past few years from working in the various roles across the business to assist him in his job of planning new projects, going out with the other Contracts Managers, meeting new clients, and analysing materials.
Louis is an enthusiastic horticulturalist, always going above and beyond the needs and expectations of people and their gardens. He is passionate about improving his horticultural knowledge by reading books and learning about different horticultural practices. He aspires to be the future of Garden Care.
From a young age, Louis has been a car enthusiast. He loves working on his car most weekends by adding modifications and attending various car shows up and down the country. Louis also enjoys the outdoors and travelling, taking on new adventures, walking in the countryside and going to the beach in the summer.
Customer reviews
Many thanks to all our lovely customers for the fantastic reviews
