Since setting up her own firm in 2017, North London-based garden and landscape designer Alexandra Noble already has a clutch of awards to her name. Her residential gardens and landscapes – noted for their compositions rich in colour and texture – have featured on BBC 2 and Gardener’s World, as well as in British Vogue, the Telegraph, ELLE Decoration and Enki magazine.

Noble originally obtained a degree in Architecture from the University of Bath before changing tack to study Horticulture at Capel Manor in Regent’s Park. A two-year stint at the studio of Luciano Giubbilei followed, as well as work with Jo Thompson, before Alexandra Noble Design was formed. Since then, the practice has completed projects across sites including an installation at London Bridge and a house on the borders of Hampstead Heath ponds, paying special attention to the surrounding natural habitat with schemes that encourage plant pollination and local wildlife to thrive.

Artisan Landscapes are comprised of a team of young professionals that combine expertise and enthusiasm to design, create and maintain timeless, thoughtful gardens in Bristol and across the South West. Sustainable and well crafted materials are held in high esteem and used in all their projects, whilst commitment to their client’s brief is conserved. Artisan Landscapes hold a bevy of accolades from The Association of Professional Landscapers, including Designer of The Year in 2021, and has been awarded the ‘Young Designer of the Year’ RHS Silver Medal at the Tatton Park Flower Show.

@artisanlandscapes

A former interior designer, Butter Wakefield developed an eye for art and design working at Christie’s New York, and then in London at Colefax and Fowler, before turning her attention to the outdoors in 1992 with her own award-winning garden design business. Wakefield credits her time at Colefax and Fowler for teaching her the key principles of great design: scale, colour, pattern and texture – all elements she plays with within her work. Wakefield’s fascination with architecture and sculpture, the way buildings are put together, and the materials that are used tend to inspire most of her garden designs, with the work of Sir Christopher Wren and David Nash particular favourites.

Image credits: Clapham Old Town, Bayswater Garden & Notting Hill Courtyard by Ellie Walpole (1-9); Ravenscourt Park by Clive Nichols (10-12)

@butterwakefield

Fuelled by his lifelong passion for horticulture, Alasdair Cameron founded this eponymous garden design, build and maintenance company in 1992. Based in West London, the award-winning Cameron is steered by an experienced team that fuses knowledge and innovation with an authentic, collaborative spirit. Cameron’s principal ethos is to ‘break new ground’ using a considered balance of artistry and discipline, however large or small the project.

Whether domestic or commercial, Cameron works in balance with nature and its seasons to create gardens that grow with their clients. The environments that Cameron realises are designed to be immersive and energising, affording their users new perspectives. This is achieved through the practice’s curated network of additional contacts – be them lighting specialists or interior designers – and an eye for detail that only the lifelong obsessive gardener can possess.

@camerongardens

Founded by Harriet Farlam and Ben Chandler, Farlam & Chandler bring together 25 years of experience across the garden design and construction industries. Their timeless gardens combine the creative with the practical in perfect balance, whilst seamlessly responding to the context of their surroundings and their clients’ needs. The pair behind Farlam & Chandler have helped to deliver two RHS Chelsea Gold and Silver medal-winning gardens over the recent years.

Their approach is centred on the harmony between their clients’ emotional and practical responses to a site, giving spaces a depth of meaning and authentic character. Their ideas are realised in collaboration with architects, interior designers and talented craftspeople, working together to create spaces that offer as much versatility as the adjacent interiors that they are designed to complement.

@farlamandchandler

Hackney based landscape and garden designer Miria Harris is making strides with her informal, contemporary and naturalistic approach to design. Prior to setting up her own practice in 2011, Harris worked as a design assistant at a leading British landscape design practice. Before that, she worked for 10 years as a contemporary art curator and producer – something that continues to inform her work to this day.

Her portfolio boasts a clutch of interesting residential and commercial projects under her belt, and collaborations with architects and interior designers including Studioilse, P-Joseph, Sergison Bates, Julian Harrap and Surman Weston. She has also been commissioned for bespoke floristry design and installations in venues that include Bethnal Green’s Town Hall Hotel and the award-winning pub The Marksman. Harris has also collaborated with artist photographer Ali Mobasser on a series of photographic artworks entitled Flowers.

Surrey-based garden designer Pollyanna Wilkinson set up her design studio in 2017, after a decade working in marketing in the city. Her work demonstrates a considered balance between elegance and practicality, creating gardens that often act as natural extensions to the homes which they surround. Whether it be a contemporary and luxurious London courtyard, or a large-scale country estate, capturing both the character of the property and the personal style of the owners lies at the heart of Polly’s work.

Polly qualified as a counsellor prior to starting her studio. Whilst she no longer practices, she is passionate about the impact of gardens on mental health and wellbeing, and designs with an appreciation for this in mind. Pollyanna has earned a handful of awards from two consecutive years exhibiting at Hampton Court Flower show, including the RHS People’s Choice Award 2019 and the RHS Silver Medal 2019.

@pollyanna_wilkinson

Sheila Jack Landscapes is a small design studio based in central London, creating elegant, contemporary gardens characterised by precise attention to detail and effusive, naturalistic planting. Working alongside leading architects and interior designers, they collaborate with highly skilled landscape contractors, craftsmen and specialist designers to create unique designs for every client that most importantly, feel good to live in.

Sheila came to garden and landscape design after a successful career as an Art Director for publications such as US Vogue and UK Harper’s Bazaar before deciding to pursue a lifelong passion for design, architecture and horticulture, re-training as a garden designer at the LCGD, Kew. She received the college prize and went on to work with leading UK garden designers Emily Erlam, Marcus Barnett, Butter Wakefield and McWilliam Studio. Sheila is a Society of Garden Designers Awards double winner and was also shortlisted for the 2021 Awards. She collaborated with furniture designer Tom Raffield at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2019 which was awarded five stars.

@sheilajacklandscapes

Image credit: Lisa Linder (1-5, 7, 8, 10)

Landscape architect Stefano Marinaz has carved out a career from his life-long love for plants, having grown up in a family of horticulturalists in Northern Italy. After completing degrees in both Agronomy and Landscape Architecture in his native Italy, as well as an MA in Landscape Architecture at the University of Greenwich, Marinaz worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew and Arne Maynard’s studio, with private clients that took him across the globe. In 2012 Marinaz established his own practice, undertaking commissions that range from large-scale, hard landscaping projects on country estates to smaller, urban plots. His work extends well beyond the usual plant schemes to include furniture, lighting, sculpture and fencing, as well as a thorough follow-up maintenance programme with the help of two Kew-trained gardeners that he employs.

Image credits: Queens Park by Ed Reeve (1-2); Rus in Urbe (3-4), North London (5-6) and Gasholders (7-9) by Alister Thorpe.

@stefano.marinaz.landscapes.uk

Interdisciplinary architecture and design studio, THISS, is driven by a sense of curiosity and exploration. Led by Tamsin Hanke and Sash Scott, projects by the London-based practice sit within the realms of architecture and landscape and by using carefully selected materials and low-impact methodologies, they apply a climate conscious approach, with Tamsin recently Passivhaus Certified. The studio has an adventurous perspective and specialises in nurturing a spirit of possibility, collaboration and resilience, finding interesting ways to make challenging things happen. Both Tamsin and Sash are actively involved in teaching architecture which carries a continual focus of innovation and experimentation through the studio’s work.

@thissworks

Aucoot Property Sales.
Grange Grove, Canonbury, London N1

Founded in 2015 in South West London, Tom Massey Studio takes on horticultural projects both in the UK and internationally, producing award-winning, sustainable and ecologically designed gardens for a mix of commercial and private clients. Since opening his studio, Tom has brought to light a range of pressing issues through his thought-provoking garden designs, most notably; the effect of climate change, food supply, drought and prejudice faced by refugees.

The studio’s recent accolades include a gold medal and BBC People’s Choice Awards for its 2021 Yeo Valley Organic Garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Alongside running his studio, Tom also tutors frequently at the London College of Garden Design in Kew and has recently appeared as a garden designer on BBC Two’s Your Garden Made Perfect.

@tommasseyuk

Image credits: The Yeo Valley Organic Garden, RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2021  by Britt Willoughby Dyer (cover and 1-3); East London Garden by Justin De Souza (5-6); Twickenham Garden by Alister Thorpe (7-9); and The Yard House by Alister Thorpe & Landscape Associates (10-11).

A childhood spent in rural Lithuania inspired Ula Maria‘s deep connection with nature, and led to an award-winning career in garden and landscape design. Prior to this, Maria attended the School of Fine Arts in Lithuania before moving permanently to the UK in 2008. While studying for both a BA and MA in Landscape Architecture at Birmingham City University, Maria won the Landscape Institute’s John Knight award for both her undergraduate and postgraduate submissions.

She then went on to scoop the RHS Young Designer of the Year in 2017. After that, Maria gained experience working for a number of landscape practices, including Tom Stuart-Smith, and then established her own firm – with an aim to create emotive spaces that foster a deeper connection with nature through sensory experience. Maria has since returned to Birmingham City University where she is a visiting tutor, and in 2020 published a book, Green, celebrating the merits of the smaller urban garden.