I try to make gardens that look like they have seeded themselves and always been.

This “wild style” does require gardening, so I love to be involved in the ongoing process of making and editing, to add and encourage extra layers.

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.

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.

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 helping on Cleve West’s Chelsea flower show garden. I was subsequently 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.