I’ve been a professional gardener for the past 18 years…

Over the last decade I’ve built my own business specialising in ornamental horticulture.

I offer Garden design, development and horticultural consulting services throughout Edinburgh, the Lothians and surrounding areas- from tiny New town City gardens, to large country homes.

Background

I trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh and hold a DIPLOMA in Horticulture with Plantsmanship with Distinction. I followed this with a year-long internship  in Planting design, and HISTORIC GARDEN MANAGEMENT at Cambo Estate in Fife .  This was a pivotal year spent saturating in art and design theory, planting, and garden management. What I learnt during this time really forms the backbone of what I do now.

From there I spent two and a half years as Head Gardener at GreyWalls Hotel in East Lothian: a historic Arts and Crafts country Estate designed by Sir Edward Lutyens, with the original garden attributed to Gertrude Jekyll. Other significant experiences include interning at Laos Botanical Gardens, developing and running a cut flower business, training as a florist, and creating wedding florals for clients.

I’ve maintained gardens for some of Edinburgh’s top designers, spent time in specialist plant nurserys, maintained indoor plant collections, and looked after tropical glasshouses. I’ve been responsible for propagating thousands of seedlings for annual displays, from sowing, and pricking out, to final planting. I’ve planted thousands, and thousands of bulbs, and mulched many borders….all these experiences and more have informed my love of gardens and gardening as a creative art. 

I am most passionate about the beauty of nature and the artistic side of gardening.  I see gardens as a canvas and I love applying the principles of Art and design on the micro and macro: the daily tasks, and the overall design of a space.

I am currently studying Botanical art, and spent several years in the City of Edinburgh Music School growing up. Of all the arts and crafts I’ve studied I’ve found that music with it’s tenets of Rhythm, and Timing to be a uniquely transferable skill in the garden.

If you would like to see my current projects, and day to day work feel free to have a look:  @terranova_gardening

Early summer garden, edinburgh
A flower garden with a close-up of tall white and purple flowering plants with green leaves and purple and white flowers, in a garden near a beige house wall with a window.
A garden bed with colorful flowering plants including purple, pink, and white blooms, bordered by a green hedge and a stone wall. Scotland.
Summer flowering bedding in pots filled with various flowering plants, a stone barbecue, and a lush green lawn with trees in the background.
A well-maintained garden with a small shed in the background, a wheelbarrow with a watering can inside, a rake leaning against a young tree, and colorful flowers and greenery.
A well-maintained garden with a patio area decorated with colorful potted plants and flowers in blue pots, surrounded by lush green trees and a manicured lawn, Scotland.