I have been gardening professionally since 1997 and although I am designing more, I like to stay physically involved as a gardener so that I can edit and add more layers over time, to “develop” the gardens rather than just “maintain” them.
I often have my best ideas whilst gardening, the meditative act calms and empties my mind thus enabling inspiration to happen. Spending time in the space allows me to experience the different light and seasonal changes, which wouldn’t be possible if I was just a designer.
My grandmother was a very keen gardener, pottering with her and growing up on a farm in the Eastern Cape of South Africa has had a strong influence on me.
I also feel lucky to have worked with very knowledgeable and creative gardeners: James Alexander-Sinclair designed the garden where I started as an au aupair in 1996 and has been a very supportive mentor to me ever since. In 1998 as Trainee Gardener at Foscote Manor (Buckinghamshire) in a team of five, my Head Gardener was Mark Brock (currently the Head Gardener at Westwell Manor in Oxfordshire) he will always be my ‘Garden-guru’.
After a late gap-year travelling around the world in 2005, I fortuitisly moved to Bonnington Square in London, where I met James Fraser (The Avant Gardener). He is the reason our current garden in Brixton is so full of quirky New Zealand natives. In 2006 whilst working on Cleve West‘s Chelsea show garden I met Sarah Price and we have been friends ever since.
I could go on and on listing all the wonderful friends and mentors I have made through gardening; these passionate people, the books I have read, as well as my twenty years of hands-on experience, have influenced me more than any of my horticultural qualifications (available on request) ever could.
