Landscape Architect Bunny Guinness On Her 35 Year Career In Horticulture

---

Working across both commercial and private projects, Bunny Guinness is an award-winning Landscape Architect who has run her garden design company for more than 35 years.

She has worked across various TV and radio shows – sharing her vast horticultural knowledge with a wide audience. This includes 25 years as a panel member on Radio 4 BBC’s Gardeners’ Question Time and a long-running gardening column in the Telegraph for 23 years.

I spoke to Bunny as she was travelling to do a site visit and was lucky enough to also chat with her daughter Unity, who has followed in her mother’s footsteps in becoming a Landscape Architect.

Please note that the imagery featured in this article is provided courtesy of Andrew Crowley.

How Did You Get Into Horticulture?

“It was a total mistake!” jokes Bunny. “A lot of my family were in Horticulture. My mother had a nursery and my uncle is David Austin, the rose breeder.

“When I was a child, I used to find gardening a chore. I did have my own little veg plot when I was around 8 years old, but the main reason I got involved was because I was very much an outdoor kid.”

How Did That Introduction Then Lead To A Career In Horticulture?

“I went to the University of Reading to start a Food Science degree, but when I was there, I realised that it wasn’t for me. During this time, I met someone who was studying Horticulture at Reading and it sounded so much more suitable.

“I took a year out and worked in Horticulture before going back to study Horticulture there.

“I found that I liked the idea of garden design, but I then discovered the career of a Landscape Architect. You could design commercial spaces as well as private, so it seemed like a bigger field to me.

“I went back to study a post-graduate course at University in Birmingham whilst working for a Landscape Architectural firm, which was brilliant.

“I then set up on my own in 1986, about a year before I started my family. I think it was important for me to work for other firms first because I was dealing with quite big budgets, so it gave me the confidence I needed to start my own business.

“It’s really nice to have different strings to your bow in this career,” she adds. “I do some writing and I have a YouTube channel. I really enjoy having different outlets.”

What Does The Design Process Look Like For You?

“We work in a very different way to most firms,” Bunny explains.

“We deliver day jobs, where a client gets a survey of an area and we try and draw out plans until we find a design that the client is happy with. We’ll then go back and draw it up to scale in the office.

“I find that this works well because you can do a million things with any plot, but it’s about how the client will use that space. It’s only when you’re immersed in their personal space that it’s easy to tease out what will work best.

“Design is very much a logical process. You need to know what to get rid of, what to highlight, how it works with the property and, of course, the client.”

Do You Have A Favourite Memory Of A Garden You’ve Designed?

“We recently went to revisit a client who had drawn up the plan on his computer so that he could print it off and share it with his friends when they visited,” shares Bunny’s daughter Unity, who is also a Landscape Architect and works with her mother.

“That really touched me, no one had ever done anything like that before. It’s always lovely going back to the gardens to see the client’s reactions.”

“Repeat offenders are great,” Bunny adds. “I love it when you get to go back and do another design for someone if they’ve changed properties or their needs for the garden has changed.

“Sometimes, we’ve done 3 generations of family gardens, which is always nice. You get to build such a great relationship with them that way.”

Do You Have Any Standout Career Moments That Have Meant A Lot To You?

“It’s really nice working with my daughter. Obviously working with a family member has its pros and cons, but we are friends which is great!

“Unity also has huge strengths that I haven’t got. She runs the YouTube channel and creates all the computer designs from my freehand drawings. She is more modern in her design approach than me as she has a background in the arts as opposed to one in horticulture.

“This means that she brings a fresh look to everything, which is great. Hopefully, it stops me from getting stuck in my old ways.”

Do You Have Any Advice For Those Who Are Thinking Of A Career In Garden Design?

“I think a good qualification is essential.

“It took me 3 years to do my horticulture degree and then another 4 to qualify as a Landscape Architect, including the professional practice exam, which was a ridiculously long time, but it was well worth it to have both qualifications.

“I remember when I was fully qualified and I was working that I wasn’t earning much at all and a friend serving at Harrods was earning far more than me.

“Although in the early days, you might not be making lots of money, I think it is worth getting a good qualification because it gives you a good grounding and you can get a lot of really great experience from it.

“I think it’s a fabulous career.”

Do You Have Any Upcoming Projects That You’d Like To Share With Our Readers?

“We’re about to start a podcast which we are looking forward to doing when we have a bit more time,” says Bunny. “We’ve got quite a nice community on YouTube now, so this just seems like a natural step for us.”

To see more of her gardening tips and advice, you can find Bunny’s YouTube channel here.