Juliet Sargeant is an RHS Gold ribbon - gain Garden Designer and the laminitis of the Sussex Garden School .
After pivoting from her former vocation in medicine , Juliet has spent more than 30 class design beautiful but practical gardens – with a clean aim to connect hoi polloi with the lifelike macrocosm .
I was golden enough to speak with Juliet to research her calling high spot , her unique garden invention process and her next programme with Sussex Garden School .
How Did You First Get Into Gardening?
“ I enjoyed gardening as a kid , start when I was about 6 years old , ” Juliet shares . “ My mum gave me a corner of the garden that I could make into a rock garden because this was in the LXX when they were all the rage !
“ I bought seminal fluid and made a little piddle feature . Since then , I ’ve just always enjoyed being outside .
“ I was unseasoned when there was a liberal drouth in the summertime of 1976 and we had fantastic success with tomatoes that class . I call up the wonderful belief of farm them and seeing them ripen .
“ That ’s where it all started for me . ”
From That, What Led You To A Career In Garden Design?
“ It was n’t my first career . I started in medicament and spent a few years practise as a MD .
“ I always regretted giving up originative subjects to do medical specialty , so when I got an chance to airt my vocation to something more originative , I thought it would be nice to fuse this with my pursuit in the outdoors .
“ Garden design just seemed to meet the poster . ”
What Does Gardening Mean To You?
“ For me , it ’s all about link up with the wider landscape , ” suppose Juliet . “ I see the garden as a link to the innate world .
“ The garden is a private space , but it is an opportunity for us to look into nature in a less threatening and manageable way . It ’s really wanton to step outside your back entrance and potter about , but you are also stepping into nature when you do this , even though it is more tame .
“ With my own node , I get that they mainly hold out busy lives and think that they do n’t get to spend enough clip in nature . I love watching them tardily build a connection with nature as they spend more prison term in their gardens – it ’s a lovely process . ”
Do You Have A Specific Process For Designing Gardens?
“ I always start with quite an in - astuteness conversation with my clients , ” she explain .
“ There are all the hard-nosed things that they need the garden to do for them and then there are the more aesthetic considerations to talk about .
“ During these conversations , I also get a flavour of their existing relationship to nature and the landscape and whether they are face to change that at all . Very often , people will require how they can spend more sentence outside .
“ They might desire a space to relax outside or a space for their children . It ’s those subtle ways in which multitude want to get in touch with the landscape painting that I attempt to call in the design .
“ I really attempt to make it an engaging procedure for my clients so by the oddment of the process , they are really delirious and funny about the new way they can use their land . ”
Can You Share More About The Sussex Gardening School?
“ I ’ve been designing garden for about 30 age and I ’ve been learn for around 25 . For a long time , I was teaching at various colleges and I always thought that I would love to have more freedom around the matter that I cover and to do things in my own way .
“ What I ’m really interested in is not just garden innovation , but the whole creativity that comes about when multitude pass time outside . This could be house painting , poetry , prose or designing .
“ I think that nature is inspiring and can move us to be creative , so I want to give people an chance to ferment with other creatives in nature to search this creativity more .
“ We go to gracious places and do classes on urge flower prowess , mosaics , amongst other things .
“ It is a assemblage together of creative hoi polloi who are inspire by landscapes . I believe it ’s skillful to bounce ideas off each other and to see all the different approaches of originative minds . ”
Do You Have Any Standout Career Highlights?
“ There are too many to choose from , ” says Juliet .
“ I ’ve had two really amazing opportunities to build garden at RHS venues . I had a garden around 20 years ago build at RHS Wisley , but more recently at RHS Bridgewater in Salford .
“ I designed the new Blue Peter garden which is really special , as I love knowing that people can go and visit it whenever they like . ”
What’s Next For You?
“ With the Sussex Garden School , we currently do day shop , but we are also going to set in motion shorter half - Clarence Shepard Day Jr. which will give more the great unwashed the opportunity to come .
“ We are pop off to host two events in one daylight that will be linked , so people can come for just one or do the full sidereal day . There will be quite a few of them in the future which will hopefully be more accessible for people .
“ On the excogitation side , we ’re doing a couple of public projects at the moment .
“ One of them is a pocket park in Woolwich which is move to be a memorial garden to Commonwealth soldiers , so we are presently in the planning stages of that . ”
What Would You Say To Those Thinking Of Giving Gardening A Go?
“ With gardening it can seem like there are a mass of rules , ” she says . “ in reality , plants have a tremendous driving for stay alive , like most of us .
“ It ’s very difficult to get it drastically incorrect , so it really is something that is worth having a go at .
“ Start off with plant that the great unwashed tell you will be easy to grow and taste to enjoy it . This former success will hopefully entail that you ’ll be bitten by the germ ! ”
