Garden Design Tutors

Juliet Sargeant is a multi-award-winning garden designer and television gardener. Juliet has also taught garden and planting design for over 20 years. She is qualified in adult education and is well known for her informal, inspiring and informative teaching style.

Juliet founded the Sussex Garden School in order to share her passion for all things garden and to de-mystify the subject, enabling people to get to know their gardens better.

When she is not teaching at the Sussex Garden School, Juliet runs her busy design practice from Hurstpierpoint in West Sussex and participates in programmes such as Gardeners World, Gardeners Question Time and the annual RHS Chelsea Flower Show television coverage.

Kerianne (Keri) Fitzpatrick is an experienced, award-winning garden designer whose work is shaped by a rich background in art, travel, and design. She studied garden and landscape design at the University of Brighton and has created numerous show gardens, including the Macmillan Cancer Support Legacy Garden at RHS Malvern.

Keri comes from a background in luxury travel and hospitality, and her love of travel and natural landscapes continues to inspire her — resulting in gardens that are both beautiful and deeply rooted in their surroundings.

Alongside her design work, Keri also works as a lead designer in Juliet’s studio and shares her passion and expertise as a tutor at The Sussex Garden School. She is passionate about celebrating the beauty of natural materials and bringing the essence of the garden into the home, weaving this ethos into her craft-based practice of creating seasonal wreaths.

Practical Gardening Tutors

Jenny Samuels‘ approach to teaching gardening is influenced by a passion for greener gardening and a strong belief in working with your soil and climate rather than against it.

She loves the challenge of rejuvenating tired borders – making good what is there and introducing fresh planting combinations to breathe new life into a garden. “Gardens never stand still and there is so much pleasure to be had in evolving your garden and trying new things. Enjoying the process is what gardening is about.”

Owner of the Lindfield Gardening Company, Jenny has a wide range of experience including horticultural gardening, planting design and teaching gardening to enthusiastic beginners. Her original degree was in biomedical science, before retraining in horticulture, and gaining an RHS diploma with Commendation. Jenny was then awarded a further certificate in field biology from Sussex University.

Gardening Talks Tutors

Rachel Owen is a designer with 30 years’ experience, working from concept through to build. She is now a freelance lecturer, having taught at Plumpton College for 10 years. After managing the horticulture and forestry department at Plumpton College, Rachel was promoted to Development Manager overseeing the course creation at One Garden Brighton. This was a privileged position to be in and allowed for the creation of garden design courses, herbalism courses and a strong curriculum that focused on providing support and guidance for adult learners to change careers. It was also a great opportunity to give students experience in garden design and implementation at Chelsea and Hampton Court Flower Shows.

Alongside her background in horticulture and design, in recent years she has focused on urban forestry and the protection of trees in the landscape, promoting resilience and longevity. She has recently completed an MSc in Arboriculture and Urban Forestry and manages the health of urban trees within Sussex daily. Rachel is also part of a Community Interest Company creating a large-scale land-based Centre for Resilience in East Sussex. This project will be a flag ship for agroecological farming, resilience planting and support environmental regeneration and land stewardship.

Rachel has a passion for soil health, plants, our relationship with the landscape, and tailors her teaching to suit learners from beginners to professionals.

Creative Crafts Tutors

Jazz Dixon has always been creative, studying music, photography, theatre studies and biology at A-level. She almost became a primary school teacher but instead turned to pharmacy. She has designed opera sets and stage costumes and has many years’ experience designing and teaching crafts with children. In 2011 Jazz embarked on formal art training completing her Art and design Foundation in 2013. It was during this time that Jazz first encountered glass, she went on to study BA Hons Designer Maker at The University of Brighton, graduating in 2016 where she specialised in glass. She has exhibited locally and is represented in several galleries and shops. Since graduation she has been teaching glass and has gained a reputation as a very patience and knowledgeable tutor.

Jennifer Mercer trained as a textile designer 30 years ago in Scotland. She has since worked as a dyer in opera , ballet and theatre companies across the country. She has dyed, painted, printed and aged costumes for internationally known designers and directors.

Since settling in East Sussex she has enjoyed a new found love of the outdoors and realised how many dyes are naturally available from plants in her local area, on her allotment or in her  own garden. It has been a voyage of discovery and one she is now keen to share, mainly because she believes the natural way is so much better for our environment. 

Wendy Darby is a qualified teacher, garden designer and crafter. She has had a varied and eclectic career, both nationally and internationally, which she draws upon for her crafting and making ideas.  

Her designs for gardens and crafts encompass the phrase ‘inspired by the Garden’ in almost everything she undertakes.  Now settled in East Sussex she enjoys sharing her interests with others.

Matthew J Thomas is a Sussex – based photographer working in a range of styles, including portraits, interiors, landscape, gardens and product photography.

His photographs regularly appear in magazines, books and websites worldwide, including recent features in ‘Sussex Life’, ‘Country Life’ and ‘The Lady’. Amongst other projects, he is currently working on a book to illustrate the largest and oldest trees in Sussex.

Theresa Sundt, an Art and History of Art BA graduate of Haifa University, has always worked with colour as an art teacher and as a professional artist. In 2003 she became a certified colour therapist under the guidance of June Mc Leod, Theo Gimbell and Peter Mandel. Since then and until recently she worked as a colour therapy consultant for BIOPTRON AG and as a massage and colour therapist in her Brighton clinic.

In 2017 Theresa created the popular portable and affordable colour therapy torch, in order to make colour therapy available in every household. She is the author of three books The Art of Colour Therapy, Tried and Tested Colour Therapy Treatments and Know Your Colour Personality that she co-authored with Alison Standish. Her artwork can be seen in many different places in the form of murals, big floor mandalas, children books’ illustration and woven tapestries.

She currently focuses her work on ‘Mindful Colour’, which is a series of independent workshops for adults or children. With hands-on experiences, the participants explore and immerse themselves to the healing side of colour through art, light, movement and sound.

Anna Ribo is a nature journaling teacher and planting designer. For her, drawing and planting are closely related and she uses drawing to think creatively when doing planting schemes and as a way to enjoy nature.

She very much likes to share her skills, whether teaching nature drawing and journaling or hand drawing to garden designers. Her workshops are down to earth and accessible for beginners. 

Issy Farina is a Lecturer in Art & Digital Design at a Further Education (16+) college; teaching and supporting students on UAL (University Arts London Diplomas), Level 1 – Level 4.  Having completed a BA(Hons) Costume and Performance Design from the Arts University Bournemouth, Issy has worked as a Costume Trainee in the film industry. Before her university degree, Issy completed an Art Foundation course, as well as A levels and GCSEs in Art and Textiles. Previously, she has worked as a Lecturer teaching Arts & Crafts sessions to SEND students. She also has experience working as an Arts & Crafts supervisor at a primary school afterschool club. Issy has run several drawing workshops for adults, including Life and Still Life drawing, that explore both traditional and experimental drawing techniques.  

Issy’s own creative practice centres on the exploration of abstract forms, shapes, and textures. Guided by intuition and curiosity, her approach to art embraces experimentation with a wide range of mixed media, involving spontaneous mark-making and a mindful philosophy. At the heart of Issy’s teaching practice lies an understanding of art as a meditative and healing force – the act of creating is viewed as a way to connect more deeply with oneself and others, using visual language to process emotion, provide a sense of calm, invite reflection, and gain a sense of freedom.