Profile
Nine years, planting-led
Nine years of planting design, five of them running schemes end to end: survey and soil assessment, concept, planting plan, plant schedule, tender support, site supervision and two seasons of aftercare.
My drawings are built to be bought and built. Every scheme leaves the studio with a plant schedule priced against real nursery availability, a setting-out drawing a landscaper can work from without ringing me, and a maintenance calendar written for whoever actually cuts the beds back in February.
I work comfortably inside an architect-led team and I am equally happy being the person who walks the site in the rain with a soil auger before anyone draws a line.
- SpecialismPerennial matrix planting for dry shade, heavy clay and reclaimed ground
- ScalePrivate gardens of 200–4,000 m² and small public realm schemes
- StrengthTranslating a planting intent into documents contractors can price
Selected work
Three of fourteen completed
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Cwm Ffrwd Hollow
2025 · private woodland garden
Lead designer · 1,900 m²
A north-facing hollow under sycamore and ash, with root competition and a perched water table at the base. I kept the canopy, thinned selectively for light, and planted a three-layer scheme of ferns, epimedium and woodland grasses that reads from the house in winter. Drainage was solved by regrading a swale rather than installing pipework.
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Tanner's Yard courtyard
2024 · community courtyard
Planting designer, with Rhoswen Landscape Studio · 340 m²
A shared courtyard on compacted clay over demolition rubble, maintained by residents rather than a contractor. I specified raised soil profiles over the worst of the sub-base, chose a palette that tolerates both drought and winter standing water, and ran two planting-day workshops so residents knew what was a weed and what was not.
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Pennant Lane therapeutic garden
2023 · care setting
Assistant designer, with Rhoswen Landscape Studio · 650 m²
A circular route with no dead ends, seating at 15-metre intervals, and planting chosen for scent and texture at seated height. My work covered the planting plan, the non-toxic plant check against the care provider's list, and the seasonal interest audit that kept something in flower from March to November.
Experience
2017 — present
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Planting designer, freelance
2022 — present
Hollowmead Studio · sole practitioner
- Ran eleven private schemes from survey to second-season aftercare, working directly with three regular landscape contractors.
- Sub-contracted planting packages for two architecture practices, producing plans, schedules and tender answers to their drawing standards.
- Built a working plant record of 400+ species noted by soil, aspect and observed performance on my own sites.
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Garden designer
2019 — 2022
Rhoswen Landscape Studio · team of six
- Held the planting design role on fourteen schemes, including the practice's first two care-setting gardens.
- Rewrote the studio's plant schedule template so quantities, pot sizes and spacing exported cleanly for contractor pricing.
- Ran fortnightly site visits during build and chaired handover walks with clients and maintenance teams.
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Assistant designer & nursery lead
2017 — 2019
Brynmawr Plant Nursery · retail and trade
- Managed bare-root and container ordering across two seasons, including substitution decisions when stock failed.
- Produced planting plans for small residential commissions and propagated the nursery's shade perennial range.
Capabilities
Tools and field practice
Drawing & software
- Vectorworks Landmark
- AutoCAD LT
- QGIS
- Planting plans to 1:50
- Setting-out drawings
- Hand elevations & sections
- Plant schedules
Planting & soil
- Perennial matrix planting
- Dry-shade palettes
- Clay and reclaimed ground
- Soil texture & infiltration testing
- Compost and mulch regimes
- Bare-root sourcing
- Seasonal interest auditing
Delivery & aftercare
- Contractor briefing
- Phased build schedules
- Tender support
- Site supervision
- Maintenance handbooks
- Client and resident workshops
- Two-season aftercare visits
Education & training
Formal and short course
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Diploma in Garden Design
2016 — 2017
Hollowmead College of Design
Final project: a planting strategy for a disused quarry edge, assessed on soil remediation and establishment costing.
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BSc Environmental Science
2013 — 2016
Northmoor University
Dissertation on soil compaction and root establishment on post-industrial sites.
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Soil & Water Management, short course
2021
Field Studies Trust · five days
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Languages
English, first language · Welsh, conversational