I love that gardens can be “living art” - increasing biodiversity and biophilia, not just aesthetic nourishment.

It is so exciting to see the life that appears when we create new habitats and care for them sensitively - especially when we add water; so I want everyone to have a pond or at least a birdbath.

I try to make gardens that look like they have seeded themselves and always been, by minimising hard surfaces and using layers of plants that catch the light and wind.

This wild style of planting does require gardening, so I like to be involved with the ongoing care of new gardens, to edit and add/encourage more layers over time.

I am trying to eradicate the words “garden maintenance”, which devalue the art of gardening - a continuous creative process of editing and making, not “maintaining” something static.

I especially love it when clients want to garden with us, so we can show them the “desirable” seedlings - this selective weeding allows the planting to become more naturalistic and dynamic.

Once we have agreed the initial design, I work with your builders or recommend contractors for any hardscaping/groundworks.

I then source the plants and lay them out intuitively, but I can create visuals, planting plans and mood boards if the budget allows.

I’m very grateful to receive all my work through “word of mouth”; so if you’re here thanks to one of my clients or gardening friends, please let me know, so that I can thank them.

I have been making gardens since 1999; I feel very lucky to have found gardening during my “gap year” working as an aupair in Buckingamshire in 1996, where I met their garden designer James Alexander Sinclair, who has been my mentor ever since.

I did the RHS general certificate through evening classes, worked in a bare root tree nursery for one winter, then as trainee gardener in a team of five on a private estate for two years, before becoming self-employed in 1999. James kindly gave me drawing and gardening work, whilst I was doing the City and Guilds Diploma in garden design part time.

After a second gap year traveling around the world in 2004, I moved to London, which is when I met my friend Sarah Price, whilst we were both on the planting team for Cleve West’s Chelsea flower show garden. I then helped on the planting teams for Sarah’s first four show gardens.

I grew up on a farm in South Africa, so it was wonderful to escape back to the countryside in 2022 - thanks to our “lockdown chooks” (hens) - first to the Black Mountains near Abergavenny, where I had made a garden for clients in 2013 (their house was vacant so provided a perfect stepping stone) and then to Chooksbury, near Tewkesbury in 2023.

I still go to London every other week and am happy to travel for interesting projects - especially if your garden is beside a surfing beach.