Q: After moving to London, you started out as an interior designer at Colefax and Fowler. What inspired you to switch to garden design? Q: How has your design style evolved throughout your career, and what do you see as the next evolution for your work? Q: You have designed several gardens for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, winning the ‘Best Tradestand’ award in 2018: what is the process of designing a garden of this nature, and where do you gain your inspiration for these pieces? Q: What would you say is Butter Wakefield signature found in your garden designs? Q: How do you approach sustainability in your work? Q: Which three books have influenced you as a designer? Garden Design Details Husbandry: Making Gardens with Mr B. The Land Gardeners Cut Flower Book Why do book collections matter? Book a consultation with a ~personal curator Contact Quick Links Follow us @ultimatelibrary Join our community
Exploring Garden Design With Butter Wakefield
25 May 2023
As the prestigious RHS Chelsea Flower Show continues to bloom in London, we are thrilled to have had the opportunity to sit down with visionary gardener designer, Butter Wakefield. Over the last 15 years, Butter has built a thriving design studio here in London. With an impeccable eye for detail and an unwavering commitment to sustainability, she has created inspirational and purposeful gardens throughout the city and beyond. She has just this week contributed her planting expertise to the enchanting Savills Garden at Chelsea, designed by her friend Mark Gregory. In our conversation with her, we delve into her design evolution, her unique approach to blending aesthetics with sustainable practices, and the essence of her signature style. Being Ultimate Library, we were also keen to find out the books that have inspired her along the way.
I felt a huge need to spend more time outside as I grew up on a little farm in the States, but also realised that design whether outside or in was something that really inspired me. I also wanted and needed to feel more in charge of my own time and schedule so that I could be around more for our small children. Garden design and setting up my own small business seemed the perfect fit for both my needs and those of my family.
I think possibly the most pivotal point in my career was when I attended the London College of Garden Design in 2013-14. Having done several other diploma courses, I knew that if I wanted to offer the most professional service, I had to finish my learning off with a proper garden design course. It changed everything and introduced me to a whole new world and a whole new way of doing things better. It was revolutionary, unbelievably challenging at the time, I remember crying a lot as I felt so out of my depth particularly when trying to master CAD (which I never really did!) but the course was sensational and I wish I had done it sooner. Going forward, it is all about designing more sustainable wildlife friendly, nectar-rich gardens. Our natural world is under such enormous pressure and threat, I feel compelled to always do more.
The process of designing a garden for anyone whether it be for a show or a private client, I think really begins with the brief. This comes from the client and generally consists of a list of wishes that the client hopes to realise from their newly reconfigured outdoor space. We ask a series of questions which helps to guide us and informs our design process and choices. The architecture and setting of the house also play a significant part as a starting point and inform our decision-making process first and foremost throughout. I find being out in nature, and walking along the River on the weekends provides me with the time and space I often don’t have during the week to think more creatively. Finding moments of quiet, when my brain is not filled with the day-to-day running of the business is when I feel most inspired and creative.
Photography: Ellie Walpole
I’d like to think I don’t really have a signature style, every garden, every client, and every project is so different, and all the gardens we try to create are as unique as the individual client, but I do love functional purposeful hard landscaping with a lot of patterns and wonderfully rich and immersive planting with formal elements to create year-round interest.
We try to think about means and methods right from the beginning of each new project. We also try to choose (wherever possible) UK-sourced and supplied materials and plants. We work with landscape contractors who are also keen to do the very best for the planet. We try to always do better and to help educate our clients and their garden management teams to think more about ways to improve their maintenance processes. Processes that nurture, encourage and sustain wildlife, insects and bees. Nothing gladdens my heart more than when we encourage, see, and inspire positive change.
BY ARNE MAYNARD
I am a huge fan of the work Arne Maynard does and have two of his books:
Garden Design Details
and
The Gardens of Arne Maynard
. I often refer to them. He is a great inspiration to me!
BY ISABEL BANNERMAN
I also think
Husbandry: Making Gardens with Mr B
. is a wonderful book by Isabel Bannerman. It is a delightful and engrossing book about the garden they have created together in Somerset.
BY THE LAND GARDENERS
The Land Gardeners have also written two exceptionally wonderful books:
The Land Gardeners Cut Flower Book
and
Soil to Table
. Their second book illustrates the link between the health of our soils and what we eat and is filled with ideas and wisdom about how to care for your soil. Intelligent proper soil management is something I believe in wholeheartedly.
We want to thank Butter once again for being our expert this month, you can find out more about her work on her
website
and on her
Instagram
, and vote for the Savill’s Show Garden for the People’s Choice Awards
here
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