Pollyanna Wilkinson: Bringing the indoors out

When did you first fall in love with gardening and what made you switch careers?

I’ve always been very passionate about design and knew I wanted to work in a creative industry. It wasn’t until I moved to London, where I rented a flat and grew tomatoes on my tiny balcony, that I caught the gardening bug. I soon realised that pursuing a career in landscape design was the perfect marriage of design and horticulture.

How would you describe your style and how has it evolved since you first set up in 2017?

My style is very much client-led, but the common theme in my work is a balance of elegance and practicality. Some have described it as modern country, and for larger spaces that definitely fits. In urban settings, I tend to go a little more formal. Above all, I like my gardens to be classic, floriferous and somewhere that you want to spend time.

You’re a qualified counsellor too. Can you tell us about the impact that a well-designed garden can have on your mental health?

Yes! For me, the benefits of gardening on mental health are more focused on the plants and less on the overall design. Yes, a design is pleasing to the eye, but it’s the act of bearing witness to the seasons through the planting, getting your hands in the earth, mindfully tending to the plants, and being amongst nature that’s going to be the most helpful to mental health.

What are your top three tips for transforming a small outdoor space into a thriving and mindful retreat?

Bring in the plants! It’s easy to want to hard landscape a small space to feel you have maximised it, but it’s actually the greenery that will make it more inviting, so make sure you leave enough room for planting.

Adding a water feature, no matter how small, can be a wonderful addition. The sound of bubbling water is great for grounding you in a space – just think of meditation apps, which often feature water sounds. It’s also a lovely nature-friendly element.

We intrinsically gravitate to places of enclosure, so adding a secluded seating area surrounded by aromatic, scented planting is a sure-fire way to make sure you use the space well.

How can we incorporate a space for socialising in smaller outdoor plots?

More and more I’m being asked to turn smaller urban spaces into outdoor living rooms. The trick is to designate spaces for specific purposes. Choose where you will eat, where you will have a morning coffee and give the rest over to planting. Even in small spaces, you can have more than one ‘destination’ and it will make the space more interesting.

Having redesigned your garden with your children in mind, do you have any suggestions on how families can achieve an outdoor space that works for everyone?

The solution is usually careful positioning. I want the garden to be somewhere adults can relax and enjoy without feeling like they are sitting in a playground, but it also needs to work for the kids. This usually means we designate certain areas as ‘play space’, and then get creative with planting and focal points. The garden needs to grow with the household so we always future plan what’s going to happen as the family grows up.