About me

When it struck me in my mid-twenties that I knew what

financial quarter we were in but I couldn't tell you

what season it was or what the weather was like outside,

I realised something had to change...

My journey spread over three continents that took me

from IT sales to professional garden design.

I plan a garden for the long term, not just for quarters.…

As a business administrator and IT salesperson, I learned a lot:

to look at the detail, to be persistent, to analyse, to make decisions. These qualities help me today to provide

well thought-out solutions for my clients' gardens.

Moving from the two dimensions of a laptop screen

to working in a three-dimensional world.

In my years of studying garden design in London and in my training in Tokyo, Kyoto and San Francisco, I learned to get a feel for a garden and its plants rather than just relying on information I’d read.

I found it incredibly enriching to experience a garden not only with my head but with my whole body. I started to observe the different elements using all my senses such as touching the soil and smelling the leaves. I soon developed an intuition for plants and knowing where they would thrive.

You learn design by immersing yourself in good design...

When I went to Japan, Japanese gardens hardly interested me.

However, I wanted to be able to grasp the design, the balance between emptiness and fullness and to be able to use these design principles in 'my' gardens.

After a year's internship in a rural gardening and landscaping company near Tokyo and countless trips to gardens and museums with my host family, I too was completely enthralled by Japanese gardens.

So much so that in 2012 I co-founded the Real Japanese Gardens platform with Tokyo garden designer Keizo Hayano. I visited, photographed and wrote about over 60 Japanese gardens and temples. What a dream job!

Inviting life - and discovering a new world

I am convinced: we are more than just ourselves. Our home can be shared with many other creatures. It can be a place that birds, butterflies, lizards, bees and beetles love to visit.

And so, in turn, the garden begins to enrich our lives.

Between 2010 and 2015 I learned the ropes of good gardening, working as an exchange intern, volunteer and employed gardener in Tokyo, Kyoto and San Francisco.

Saitama, Japan

Exchange intern for one year in a gardening company.

Real Japanese Gardens, Tokyo

Employed by garden designer Keizo Hayano and

co-founded the Real Japanese Garden platform.

Kyoto, Japan

Apprentice in two of Kyoto’s oldest temples.

Blog: 90 days in Kyoto.

Sacred Space Gardens, San Francisco

The best garden team in the city,

looking after the most beautiful gardens.

Alcatraz, San Francisco