Juliet Sargeant And 30 Years Designing Gardens: These Are Her Highlights And Teachings
Contributions From JULIET SARGEANT
Juliet is an award-winning Garden Designer who won a Gold Medal at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2016, as well as being voted the winner of the People’s Choice Award. She also is the founder of the Sussex Garden School and an RHS show garden judge. Juliet has a BA (Hons) in Garden Design from Middlesex University and is a Registered Fellow of the Society of Garden Designers.
Juliet Sargeant is an RHS Gold medal-winning Garden Designer and the founder of the Sussex Garden School.
After pivoting from her early career in medicine, Juliet has spent more than 30 years designing beautiful but practical gardens – with a clear aim to connect people with the natural world.
I was lucky enough to speak with Juliet to explore her career highlights, her unique garden design process and her future plans with Sussex Garden School.
Please note that the imagery used in this article has been provided by Maria Scard.
How Did You First Get Into Gardening?
“I enjoyed gardening as a child, starting when I was about 6 years old,” Juliet shares. “My mum gave me a corner of the garden that I could make into a rockery because this was in the 70s when they were all the rage!
“I bought seeds and made a little water feature. Since then, I’ve just always enjoyed being outside.
“I was young when there was a big drought in the summer of 1976 and we had fantastic success with tomatoes that year. I remember the wonderful feeling of growing them and seeing them ripen.
“That’s where it all started for me.”
From That, What Led You To A Career In Garden Design?
“It wasn’t my first career. I started in medicine and spent a few years practising as a doctor.
“I always regretted giving up creative subjects to do medicine, so when I got an opportunity to redirect my career to something more creative, I thought it would be nice to combine this with my interest in the outdoors.
“Garden design just seemed to fit the bill.”
What Does Gardening Mean To You?
“For me, it’s all about connecting with the wider landscape,” says Juliet. “I see the garden as a link to the natural world.
“The garden is a private space, but it is an opportunity for us to investigate nature in a less threatening and manageable way. It’s really easy to step outside your backdoor and potter about, but you are also stepping into nature when you do this, even though it is more tamed.
“With my own clients, I find that they mainly live busy lives and think that they don’t get to spend enough time in nature. I love watching them slowly build a connection with nature as they spend more time in their gardens – it’s a lovely process.”
Do You Have A Specific Process For Designing Gardens?
“I always start with quite an in-depth conversation with my clients,” she explains.
“There are all the practical things that they need the garden to do for them and then there are the more aesthetic considerations to talk about.
“During these conversations, I also get a flavour of their existing relationship to nature and the landscape and whether they are looking to change that at all. Very often, people will ask how they can spend more time outside.
“They might want a space to relax outside or a space for their children. It’s those subtle ways in which people want to connect with the landscape that I try to address in the design.
“I really try to make it an engaging process for my clients so by the end of the process, they are really excited and curious about the new way they can use their land.”
Can You Share More About The Sussex Gardening School?
“I’ve been designing gardens for about 30 years and I’ve been teaching for around 25. For a long time, I was teaching at various colleges and I always thought that I would love to have more freedom around the subjects that I cover and to do things in my own way.
“What I’m really interested in is not just garden design, but the whole creativity that comes about when people spend time outside. This could be painting, poetry, prose or design.
“I think that nature is inspiring and can move us to be creative, so I wanted to give people an opportunity to work with other creatives in nature to explore this creativity more.
“We go to nice places and do classes on pressed flower art, mosaics, amongst other things.
“It is a gathering together of creative people who are inspired by landscapes. I think it’s nice to bounce ideas off each other and to see all the different approaches of creative minds.”
Do You Have Any Standout Career Highlights?
“There are too many to choose from,” says Juliet.
“I’ve had two really amazing opportunities to build gardens at RHS venues. I had a garden around 20 years ago built at RHS Wisley, but more recently at RHS Bridgewater in Salford.
“I designed the new Blue Peter garden which is really special, as I love knowing that people can go and visit it whenever they like.”
What’s Next For You?
“With the Sussex Garden School, we currently do day workshops, but we are also going to launch shorter half-days which will give more people the opportunity to come.
“We are going to host two events in one day that will be linked, so people can come for just one or do the full day. There will be quite a few of them in the future which will hopefully be more accessible for people.
“On the design side, we’re doing a couple of public projects at the moment.
“One of them is a pocket park in Woolwich which is going to be a memorial garden to Commonwealth soldiers, so we are currently in the planning stages of that.”
What Would You Say To Those Thinking Of Giving Gardening A Go?
“With gardening it can seem like there are a lot of rules,” she says. “Actually, plants have a tremendous drive for staying alive, like most of us.
“It’s very difficult to get it drastically wrong, so it really is something that is worth having a go at.
“Start off with plants that people tell you will be easy to grow and try to enjoy it. This early success will hopefully mean that you’ll be bitten by the bug!”
