How I think about garden design
My approach has evolved since I began designing in 1997, but it comes back to the same few convictions. Here's how I think, and why it matters for your garden.
:quality(80))
Maintenance first. Always.
The most beautiful garden design in the world fails if the person who lives with it can't maintain it. This sounds obvious, but it's routinely ignored.
I've seen it happen. A client is shown something gorgeous. They say yes. Two years later they're overwhelmed, or they've had everything ripped out and started again. The design looked impressive. It just didn't account for real life.
So before I draw a single line, I ask you about time. Not aspirational time. Actual time. How many hours a week do you realistically want to spend in the garden? The answer might be four. It might be one. It doesn't matter. What matters is that I design around the truth, not around an image.
This is the question that shapes everything else: the depth of borders, the choice of ground cover, the species I'll recommend, the surfaces I'll specify.
:quality(80))
The soil is not an afterthought
Every garden I design starts with an honest look at what's actually in the ground. Yorkshire soils vary enormously, from the heavy clay of the Vale of York to the thin, free-draining soils of the Wolds, the acid peats of the Moors, and the alkaline limestone belt running through the Dales.
Working with your soil rather than against it isn't just good practice. It's the difference between a garden that thrives and one that constantly disappoints. Plants chosen for your actual conditions establish faster, need less intervention, and look better for longer.
I'll always assess the soil before I make planting recommendations. Where it helps to know more, I'll test the pH and discuss what the results mean for your choices.
Ecological thinking works best when it's woven in from the start, not treated as a box to tick once the design is otherwise complete.
Sally Tierney
:quality(80))
Wildlife belongs in the design, not added at the end
This doesn't mean turning every garden into a nature reserve. It means choosing plants that happen to support pollinators. It means considering where a small pond might sit. It means leaving one edge slightly rougher, or letting a climber do double duty as a nesting site. Small decisions, made early, that accumulate into something truly valuable over time.
My years as a Trustee of Yorkshire Wildlife Trust shaped how I see gardens. Every space is part of a wider landscape. Every design choice has an ecological consequence, and that can be a good thing.
Structure gives freedom
A garden without a clear structure is a garden that's always slightly out of control, regardless of how much time you spend in it. Good bones (clear paths, considered levels, defined boundaries, a logical layout) are what allow everything else to relax.
This is counterintuitive to some clients. They think structure means formality, rigidity, rows. It doesn't. Some of the most naturalistic and informal gardens I've designed have the clearest structural logic underneath them. The planting can be as loose and flowing as you like, because the framework holds it.
Getting this right is what the design process is for.
A garden is never finished
One of the things I try to help clients understand early is that a garden is a living thing. It'll change with the seasons, with the years, with the inevitable surprises that every garden produces.
This isn't a problem to be solved. It's the nature of the medium. A good design anticipates change, builds in room to evolve, and doesn't depend on perfect conditions to function.
My job is to give you a strong foundation and a clear plan, and to design something that improves with time rather than fights against it.
What clients say about working with me
Sally asked questions I hadn't thought to ask myself. The result is a garden we actually use, every day, without it feeling like a chore.
I was worried that wanting a wildlife-friendly garden meant giving up any sense of order. Sally showed me that was never really true.
Sally has a way of making you feel completely confident. She's seen every garden problem before, and she's calm about all of them.
Would you like to talk through how this applies to your garden?
Every garden is different. A consultation is where we work out what these principles mean in practice for your specific space.
Book a garden consultation