Anna Jackson

Having had a wonderful career in science and commerce it was time to have a change of pace. Not totally my choice but so happy it happened! A 2-week holiday to South America became 5 weeks and most of it out of doors. The penny dropped that I wanted more time in nature in a garden and less staring at a screen.

Together with a friend we had redesigned our allotment as I couldn’t remember where we had planted the spuds and the beds ensured a true crop rotation. We didn’t stop at functional and created a pleasing design. Coming home from the trip and telling a few friends that I was available for gardening led to retraining with the RHS and qualifying with the diploma in Horticulture. I spent a year working alongside a true plantsman and natural teacher at Histon Plants who generously shared his knowledge. (As an aside the plants he sells are great for our Cambridgeshire gardens and wildlife).

It started with maintaining gardens. This quickly grew to designing, garden coaching and working with professional landscaping companies. Garden coaching grew out of a need to understand the garden and put a plan in place. It may have been because of having just moved in and not knowing one plant from another. In another case, it had been a beautifully designed garden but hadn’t been cared for in a while and a plan helped to restore it, the client fell in love with it and a new garden design was no longer needed.