I’m all about plants! I love everything botanical, and I’ve always been wild about nature.  My whole adult life I’ve worked in Horticulture and Conservation.  I’ve studied, trained and worked with some of the best gardeners and designers and built up a reputation as a highly skilled and qualified gardener and plantswoman.

I ran my own gardening businesses for 20 or so years, offering high quality garden maintenance and a professional pruning service. Specialising in restoration of roses and fruit trees in orchards and walled gardens.  

It all began in East Sussex where I trained initially.  Newly qualified, I began working for Help the Aged, and then joined a team of highly skilled and knowledgeable women in large private gardens and estates in Sussex and Kent. Working with teams setting out and planting up for high-end garden designers, and then maintaining those gardens.

We also took on a couple of large projects renovating old walled gardens and orchards in the Firle and Lewes area. I then began to employ and train up my own assistants and took on the Head Gardener roles in a couple of other large private gardens.  I continued with training during this time and working as a volunteer countryside ranger in my spare time. 

In 2014, my partner and I returned to our West Country roots in Gloucestershire, and I started a new venture. Within a few years, I built up my second thriving gardening business - Rowans Gardens.  Again, renovating and maintaining large private gardens and estates in the area.  I employed and trained several other gardeners and I was Head Gardener of four large estates. I also maintained several orchards in the area and gained a reputation as someone to call for professional and practical help and advice.

An accident at work in January 2020 where I broke my back, left me with a permanent spinal injury. This forced me to down the tools, rethink and retrain.  Initially, I re-did my RHS Level 2 as a refresher, and then went on to a one-year Professional Diploma in Garden Design at the Cotswold Gardening School, where I graduated with a Distinction.

Since my injury, I have become acutely aware of how challenging and prohibitive it can be for people with disabilities to enjoy nature and gardening.  The incredible health benefits of being in nature are well established, and I’m in the process of studying this with THRIVE, the charity training people in Social and Therapeutic Horticulture.  I first joined THRIVE for a short course in Understanding Disability in Garden Design, with a view to designing fully accessible gardens, and adding that to my design repertoire.  This opened up a whole fascinating new subject for me and I have since embarked upon a deeper study, on the STH Award course.

With this under my belt, I will be designing and creating different types of therapy gardens for all kinds of community projects, hospitals, hospices, schools -anywhere really. 

I want to bring my 3 passions together and help create exciting, beautifully designed outdoor spaces, which are beneficial for the local and wider environment and fully accessible to everyone.