A garden designer can provide us with the garden of our dreams, eliminating our existing niggles, offering solutions that we may have not considered, and creating a beautiful and useful space that is perfectly tailored to our lifestyle.
A full garden design and build, however, and is beyond the means of many of us. It is often said that a new garden is as big an outlay as a new kitchen, with a price tag to match.
However, there is another option. It's possible to find garden designers and landscape architects who also offer garden consulting services. Enlisting their help means that you can benefit from their professional advice – often focusing on a specific issue or area – for the fraction of the cost of a full garden design. They can also advise on a planting design, or refreshing a planting scheme – or even on growing edibles. Often an hour or two of their time may be all you need to get your garden on track.
Here are some garden design and horticulture professionals who offer garden consulting services.
Lottie Delamain
Lottie is a garden designer who trained at trained at the Inchbald School of Design and won Silver Gilt for her show garden, A Textile Garden for Fashion Revolution, at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2022. "I started doing garden consultancy in lockdown," she says. "It was really popular, so much so that it slightly took over. When lockdown ended, I decided to stop doing it in order to fit in other work. But I still get messages about it, so I’m offering a limited number of consultations each month."
She explains: "The service is aimed at people who either find the garden design world quite intimidating and have never worked with a designer before – it’s like a try before you buy. Or for people who already have established gardens but are in a bit of a rut, and need some help with a specific area."
"It is great for generating ideas – there is nothing like a fresh pair of eyes. I can also be useful for tackling tricky areas and specific issues, for example environmentally-friendly paving options, or improving an existing design with a few clever tweaks."
"I think people see gardens in magazines and have no idea how to achieve that look at home, and often feel really overwhelmed. Or they have lived with a space for a long time and can’t see how it could be reimagined. Obviously there is only so much we can cover in an hour, but I hope it gives people a confidence boost and inspires them to make the most of their green space as it’s such a precious resource."
www.lottiedelamain.com
Hannah Gardner
Kew-trained Hannah launched her garden consultancy service last year, aimed at large gardens or small estates. "Having been a head gardener for more than 20 years and having run my own design studio, New British Landscapes, since 2010, I decided to make the leap last year and go freelance as a horticultural consultant," she says. "I have a breath of experience and a broad skillset in horticulture and people management."
Hannah's client portfolio has quickly filled with a selection of regular large gardens and estates. "Some clients require planting rejuvenation or complete re-designs," she explains. "I identify new opportunities to enhance their space and supervise and drive forward these initiatives. I work with sustainability as a core value and only practice organic horticulture."
On other projects her role is more that of a roaming head gardener. "I lead and manage the work of a team of gardeners and students. I can visit on regular days each week or visits less frequently through the seasons."
www.newbritishlandscapes.co.uk
Alexa Ryan-Mills
London-based RHS Chelsea award winner Alexa Ryan-Mills has been offering garden consultations as one of her services since 2019. “A full garden design and build isn’t something everyone can afford. I feel it’s better to offer up some ideas in an hour-long consultation than take a client through a process where they spend too much of their budget on the design phase and are left with very little to actually make the garden. More clients have heard about garden design these days, but it’s not the best approach if the budget just isn’t there."
“I find garden consultations put clients on the right track to improving their garden space, whether it’s doing the work themselves or working directly with a landscaper. They then may do work in stages as budget allows. It’s also really good for helping clients come to terms with any differences between what they would love in an ideal world and what they can do now. This is particularly something I see in small London gardens where a client may want a very heavily planted verdant outdoor space, but their mother-in-law has just bought the kids a giant climbing frame that takes up most of the garden. An outsider coming in can help them realise the options and where they may need to make compromises."
“It’s also great for focusing on a certain area, for example looking at planting for an awkward corner or how they might hide a view they just don’t want to see (for an example of Alexa's work, in a corner of an east London garden, see our header image). I enjoy being in the space and thinking on my feet, quickly coming up with solutions the client can take forward."
www.alexaryanmills.co.uk/gardenconsultations
Sid Hill
Devon-based Sid Hill is a multi-award-winning ecological horticulturist, planting designer, consultant, and educator. He studied ethnobotany and landscape design at The Eden Project and has been running an ecological garden design and consultancy business for 15 years. He offers a consultancy service for private and professional clients.
His clients seek to rewild landscapes and gardens, produce food ecologically, or create designed plant communities in gardens and public landscapes. Clients contact Sid when they need advice on specific projects or feel overwhelmed with their land, seeking support and direction.
“I visit clients' gardens, we walk the land discussing your thoughts, and I offer my experience and creativity to come up with design ideas, management approaches, and techniques," he explains. "A client described one of my consultations as ‘a personal intensive course’ because I want to teach you about your garden and plants, inspiring you to connect with the land and ecology."
www.sidhillecogardens.com
Susannah Grant
Susanna Grant is a garden designer, planting specialist and writer, and the author of Shade (Francis Lincoln).
"I love doing garden consultancy – being able to see the potential in a garden is hard when it’s your own, so for me to see the space objectively and be able to suggest changes that would make a big difference to how it looks and is used is incredibly satisfying," she says. "Following a recent consultation, a client told me she’d fallen back in love with her garden after years of losing her way with it."
She adds: "I’m a big fan of light-touch designing. A full garden design is very expensive and often not necessary. I don’t like a lot of hard-landscaping - it’s usually unsustainable and takes up most of the budget. I work with what’s already there and can make a huge difference through planting. I particularly like tricky areas, dark back gardens or exposed front gardens, because they are the most rewarding to transform. Sometimes it’s quite a simple process of designing and replanting a space. At other times I split the work into stages over a longer period to accommodate budgets and lifestyles."
Aaron Bertelsen
Aaron is a Kew-trained gardener, cook, lecturer and writer, and was a key figure at Great Dixter from 2006, where he was in charge of the vegetable garden, house and the kitchen. He is the author of two books, The Great Dixter Cookbook and Grow Fruit and Vegetable in Pots, both published by Phaidon. Aaron has now launched his own business, Grow Something, and helps domestic and commercial clients create aesthetically pleasing, edible spaces.
"A consultation represents really good value for money," says Aaron. "It's a great alternative to looking for advice online or in books, as the advice is tailored to the person's own garden and their exact needs. I give clients a plan of action, and they do the work themselves."
Aaron's clients include everyone from celebrities with large plots to people who simply want to grow herbs in a few pots: "In fact, the smaller the space, the more important it is to get everything right," he says. "It's really important to grow something that we will want to cook and eat, and I help clients achieve that."
Aaron charges from £90 per hour for consultations.
www.growsomething.co.uk
Jane Porter
After a first career in contemporary art, Jane retrained in horticulture and went on to graduate in 2021 with distinction and the prize for Best Project from the Planting Design Diploma at London College of Garden Design. The following year she won an RHS Gold Medal and the ‘Best in Category’ award for her debut garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2022. Returning to Chelsea in 2023, her garden for the refugee charity Choose Love won a Silver Gilt medal.
Jane's consultation service started in lockdown and proved to be helpful to people all over the country as well as abroad. "During the video call, we look at the garden and discuss the issues and questions the client has. It is completely tailored to each individual. I think of it as couples counselling for you and your garden! People can often get in a rut with issues in their garden and new ideas and a bit of support can really help people get past this. A lot of it comes down to confidence and fear of lack of knowledge," she says.
"It might be that I suggest ideas for the layout, options for materials, plants that will work in the conditions, explain how to do certain tasks such as pruning or offer practical advice on how to achieve the things they already have in mind. Following the call I send them an audio recording of the session that they can refer to when they need it."
Jane also offers consultations as a gift that comes with a seeded gift certificate and beautiful card. As well as online consultations Jane does face-to-face visits for clients near Bristol. More recently she has started to offer mentorship to people considering a career change into horticulture.
www.plantyprojects.co.uk/consultations-and-mentoring
Chris Young
Having originally trained as landscape architect at the University of Gloucestershire, Chris has been part of the garden media for the past 25 years, most recently as editor of RHS The Garden magazine and in charge of publishing at the RHS. He has written two books – RHS Encyclopedia of Garden Design (DK) and Take Chelsea Home (Mitchell Beazley). In 2021, he lauched CY Gardens, a multidisciplinary business that includes garden consulting. "I needed a change and wanted to diversify – and that included going back to my roots to make places for people. Designing a garden is one of the most personal and special things you can do for someone, so I launched my landscape design service."
"Whether I’m working with a business or an individual, it’s always about what they want. My top question is ‘what do you want to do in your garden’ and ‘how do you want it to make you feel’. I offer everything from advising on plant choice, through the design process, all the way to working with a landscape contractor to build the scheme. I’m even happy to go with a client shopping for a couple of hours – many people find that it’s cheaper to pay me to advise going round a garden centre, than them go on their own and buy a load of plants that will then die."
Chris offers either a day or hourly rate. "I want to be super flexible for people – they can buy an hour of me or 100 hours. I’m there to help them get the most from their garden, and it’s something I love to do. So a flexible approach often helps them decide what they want from me."
www.cygardens.co.uk
Natalie Ashbee
Natalie Ashbee has been working in the world of horticulture as a gardener, garden designer and horticultural producer for TV shows since 2003, having qualified in Garden Design at the Duchy College in Cornwall. Post-pandemic, Natalie has moved to Cornwall, and now undertakes a range of consulting projects.
"I have a huge bank of knowledge built from experience of gardening, planting, garden renovations and garden styling which enable me to visualise what a garden needs, be that new planting, a new design or renovation of the existing plants. I’m very happy to take on small gardens or even balconies and patios – they are all equally important to the client in terms of outdoor space. I usually source and set out the plants or give plant lists for the client to source and they can either plant it themselves or use a gardener, which is more cost effective. I love seeking out furniture and pots to complement the style of their property."
She adds: "Most of my work is either done on site, on email or the internet so my overheads are fairly low. Therefore my hourly rate is lower than that of a garden designer, depending on the complexity and length of the task, plus travel costs of course. Some projects such as bigger hotels will stretch over many years, whilst local garden consultations might take a couple of hours on site with a pad and pencil. It’s a fun way to work and I like that I get out and about regularly, exploring the glorious Cornish countryside." One of Natalie's projects is shown in the header image of this feature.
www.natalieashbee.com
North London Head Gardeners
Naomi Schillinger and Laura Arison design gardens predominantly, as their company name suggests, in the North London area.
They are both originally from fine art backgrounds and went on to study garden design at Capel Manor and the Pickard School of Garden Design. Laura also has extensive experience in designing show gardens for the RHS, winning Gold at Hampton Court Flower Show and Gold and ‘Best in Show’ at Tatton Park Flower Show.
They love the challenges that London gardens offer and appreciate that clients do not always need a full garden design. “Clients often come to us feeling overwhelmed with where to start in their garden.”
"By offering a consultation service, we can help with creative ideas and solutions for specific or tricky areas, giving the client a clear direction where to begin in their garden," says Naomi. "This will cost a fraction of redesigning the whole garden, but can often make a big impact on how the client uses and enjoys their outdoor space. Sometimes the bones of a garden are great, but maybe the kids have grown up and the way the garden is used has changed, or borders have dwindled and lost their sparkle. We can advise on how to make changes, enlivening borders with creative, successional planting which will make the garden look good all year round."
Naomi and Laura also offer a replanting service and pride themselves on sourcing unusual plants and choice cultivars from small, specialist nurseries: "We love giving clients something unusual that will delight them when it emerges." They are also expert fruit and vegetable growers and can advise on incorporating fruit, veg and edible flowers into planting schemes and gardens.