New Beginnings, or the Slightly Painful Birth of a Garden Designer

Designing gardens is a relatively new thing in my life. I had reached ‘that point’ where the combination of disillusionment with my chosen path, a certain maturity in years and an increasing sense of mortality, resulted in a deep desire to do something I actually enjoyed, that might even be fulfilling and in a ‘what’s the worst that can happen?’ attitude. Some, I suppose, would call this a mid-life crisis.  And when I say ‘chosen path’ what I actually mean is office administration, or, the path-that-chose-me-when-I-wimped-out-in-my-teens-and-didn’t-follow-my-dream-to-go-to-drama-school.  In practical terms, this new beginning became a possibility when, a few years ago, I moved from the Midlands to Cheshire to be with my Beloved.

Thus, armed with nothing more than an artistic nature and a love for gardens, but no background in gardening beyond amateur pottering, and the massive convenience of having a very good Land-Based College on my doorstep I decided to investigate the possibilities.  Initially I enquired about a workshop; I think it was ‘Planting Hanging Baskets’, which led to sending for a prospectus, attending an open evening and signing up for a Professional Diploma in Garden Design. Yes I know, slightly more ambitious than a workshop on hanging baskets; which, incidentally, was cancelled due to lack of interest, so I still don’t know how to plant one.  <Wink>

So I embarked on the course with a huge sense of trepidation, a new pink pencil case and the obligatory ring binder. My expectations were that I would enjoy it but also be pretty bad at it. Not a particularly happy prospect suffering, as I do, from a terrifying fear of failure. However I unearthed a hitherto buried passion for garden design, some talent I didn’t know I had and acquired some new skills.  These, combined with a very competitive group of mature students, tons of hard work, tons of books (why are gardening books so heavy?!), lots of blood, sweat, tears and red wine (ok, maybe not the blood) resulted in me gaining the Diploma with Distinctions in all modules. I’m still pinching myself.

At this juncture I would like to thank my sponsor, Beloved, for his very deep pockets, his endless patience, encouragement and never-wavering belief in me. Not to mention his willingness to be dragged round endless gardens whilst being indoctrinated with the principles of garden design and to hold the end of the tape when I’m doing a survey.

I started practicing as a garden designer in April this year and feel even tinier than the tiniest of fish in a vast ocean full of very big, much more talented fish. I have re-designed our own garden which is awaiting completion, am working on my second professional design and have also completed a fascinating commission to draw a plan of a ‘well known garden’ owned and designed by one of the ‘talented big fish’ to appear in her ‘forthcoming best-selling book’, more of which in my next blog.

Since gaining my Diploma I have also completed RHS 2 to gain more knowledge of plants and horticulture. I’m beginning to feel less daunted, in no little part due to the amazing support of the online gardening community, who are a lovely bunch, on the whole. And a lot of them are seasoned bloggers, so I hope they’ll treat my first offering with gentleness and honesty; after all, both are attributes that I come across time after time in my interaction with them.