From classes to grasses, Sarah Jarman’s career has ranged across two very different vocations.

 

Sarah, now 44, spent the first two decades of her working life as a teacher.

 

But then she says: “I came to realise what I really wanted to do with my life. Teaching was a job. But I had discovered a passion.”

 

Garden design was the new driver in her life. While continuing to work in a local school near her Leigh home, she has set up her own company, and is starting to attract commissions.

 

She already comes with one impressive credential. While studying at Capel Manor College, in Enfield, she – along with two student colleagues – won the Fresh Talent award at the illustrious Chelsea Flower Show.

 

The prize-winning design, entitled Bird Columny, was based around a column-shaped sculpture, and designed to emphasise the crucial link between garden design and bird conservation.

 

Sarah’s exposure to gardening began when she was a child, running around her parents’ allotment. She says: “As an adult, I did the garden and took an interest in gardening like everyone else, but it wasn’t until later I realised this was what I wanted to do with my life.”

 

Her studies at Capel Manor taught her the technicalities and how to run a garden business.

 

However, Sarah says: “The most valuable lesson I learned was to be critical. They gave us a professional standard to work to and measure ourselves by.”

 

The key quality needed by a garden designer, says Sarah, is “creative vision”.

 

This means looking at an outdoor space in much the same way that a painter looks at a blank canvas.

 

She says: “You also need to be a good communicator. It’s no use having a wonderful idea for a garden design if you can’t get it across to the client.”

 

Of course, every garden design reflects the particular style and tastes of the gardener. Sarah has a leaning towards native British plants, although a love of bamboos and ferns is also evident, even if they are exotics.

 

Sarah works closely with local businesses which provide the constructional element like paths and walls, and supply the plants.

 

Would-be garden designers should be aware the job is almost always done on a freelance basis. So one other requirement, at least early on, may be a day job.

 

“It takes time to build up contacts,” says Sarah. “But I’m getting there.”

 

Sarah’s inaugural commission as a professional is on view, in a neighbour’s front garden in 101 Leighton Avenue, Leigh. She has

also designed the back garden, which is not visible from the road

 

She adds: “The job is living up to expectations and it is a real pleasure to see the completed result.”