‘Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life’ – Unknown. I am aware of how just how lucky to be able to use that quote to describe my work. My love for gardening spills over into all aspects of my life, when I’m not working in a client’s garden I will be pottering around my garden or holed up in my beloved but messy potting shed.
The Night Garden – I loved designing and creating this area. By night a haven to toast marshmallows over the fire pit, drink hot chocolate and look at the stars and by day a quiet spot to have a cuppa.
I spent a vast majority of my childhood outside, covered in mud. I would build herringbone paths through my Mum’s flower beds, make screens by lashing bamboo together. My Dad was a professional gardener and I would sometimes join him at his client’s gardens. Trapesing through delipidated orangeries with overgrown vines, walking through bluebell laden woodlands, playing in outbuildings and wading into lakes to see how far we could make it before the water poured over the top of our wellies. It was incredibly magical and sparked a real curiosity in my mind that remains even today.
Greenhouse – repurposed our old shed into a growing space.
I love creating spaces within my garden, evoking memories from an adventure or holidays, somewhere to grow delicious homegrown produce, to a space that allow me to connect with calm and to remember to just breath. Being creative and designing is one of my great loves and a new border often starts with a heap of research, sketches, and extensive plant lists. I’m really looking forward to getting back to studying in 2024 at Capel Manor College to learn more about Garden Design.
Mixed Rose bed
At home I’ve been working on a mixed Rose bed design which I began planting up this year, using a pink and white planting scheme. I was inspired by Jenny Barnes (IG @niffbarnes) and was blown away by her incredible rose sculpting. I’m going to emulate this style. with star of the show being the stunning and beautifully fragranced but very prickly ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ climbing rose. Sculpted around a tall garden obelisk. Two ‘Geoff Hamilton’ roses accompanied by mixed planting consisting of Veronicastrum Virginicum ‘Album’ and ‘pink glow’ which will provide height at the back of the border. Hydrangea petiolaris climber for the north facing trellis. Achellia ptarmica ‘the pearl’ (a Gertrude Jekyll favourite apparently) Achellia millefolium ‘pastel’, Phlox paniculate ‘david’ and ‘famous white eye’, Geranium alba, Stachys ‘summer crush’. Cosmos ‘seashells’ and Gypsophila ‘Covent Garden’ to fill the gaps.
Tropical inspired border.
‘Make do and Mend’ features heavily in my home garden, the kids’ trampoline has been remodelled and turned into a growing arch. The swing frame is now destined to be a fruit cage, the humble pallet makes great seating, I even stripped back my old shed and used the frame to build a bespoke greenhouse. For me looking outside the box is far more fulfilling than trying to meet expectation.
Sometimes the garden exceeds my aims and sometimes it falls way short, but I find that gardening be it in a clients’ garden or my own garden, removes me from my modern life, rushing from one place to the next, the pull of social media, the pressure of Mum guilt. The great outdoors is my support network and I couldn’t imagine a life without it.
To find out more about Rebecca’s work her Instagram account is rebecca_gardening
