After over a decade in marketing, the covid pandemic came and I was put on the furlough scheme for almost 18 months. During this time I trained in horticulture and garden design with the RHS, and decided to take the plunge and leave my corporate career in 2021, going full time as a gardener and planting designer.

I grew up in a plant-obsessed family - we always had an allotment, and when my grandfather retired, he too became a gardener. Weekends were often spent walking around garden centres, RHS gardens or National Trust properties, which is where my knowledge and passion for plants began to take shape.

I am hugely passionate about plants, and in particular organic gardening. I don’t use power tools or any chemicals in my gardening, and like to work sensitively in gardens - no slash-and-burn wayward hedge trimming here.

I am often called upon when a garden has been inherited and is a mystery, or has got out of hand, or when landscaping is done but the blank space and feeling of “will this plant work here?” is overwhelming. It is a privilege to work in your gardens and be trusted with your spaces. I love to be at one with nature, and work with the seasons. Now, I can’t imagine my life before I was a gardener!

Rachel, Terra Legra