I’m Séverine, a garden designer, horticulturist, and botanist based in Stretford, Manchester.
What draws me to plants is the overlap between design and ecology — I’m as interested in why a garden thrives as in how it looks, and I try to bring both to every project.
I trained on the job. Before striking out as an independent in 2007, I spent eight years at the Groundwork Trust, an environmental regeneration charity based in Greater Manchester. Since then I’ve split my time between practical horticulture and my own design and landscaping work — including stints at Glebelands, a Manchester organic urban food growing business, and Arley Hall, eight acres of RHS-affiliated gardens in Cheshire. In 2011 I co-founded Bud Garden Centre in South Manchester, which I ran until 2015, when I left to focus fully on garden design.
Today, alongside design work, I run wildlife gardening talks and art and botany sessions, drawing on an MSc in Biological Recording and Ecological Monitoring that now underpins how I think about planting and place.
That close, local attention is at the heart of how I work: whether I’m designing a garden or leading a walk, I want people to leave with a sharper eye for what’s growing around them, and a plan for making the most of it.
Get in touch if you’d like a garden designed, a talk booked, or an art and botany session brought to your community.
sev@grassrootsgardendesign.co.uk
