Sarah Hudson
About me
They say choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
Gardening has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I'm an outdoor girl with a passion for sharing my outside space with nature.
Garden centres, reclamation yards and antique fairs are my happy places. I'm particularly dangerous in a garden centre, where I usually leave having bought at least one new plant or shrub that I can't possibly live without.
Following a successful sales career in the home improvement sector then later the motor trade, my hobby turned into my new business venture I launched 'Ask Sarah' in 2020.
There was lots of demand out there for a reliable and friendly gardener and I very quickly developed a regular client base of lovely garden and nature lovers who for various reasons needed my services.
To increase my knowledge, I enrolled on a professional gardening course at Capel Manor college, followed by a plants and garden design course.
By being hands on in clients gardens it enabled me to help them maintain and improve their gardens whilst always happy to share my knowledge that I was soaking up at college.
Garden design and planting designs really excited me as I worked in all of these wonderful outside spaces of my clients.
Next stop, Shuttleworth College for an RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) course which included The principles of garden planning, construction and planting, practical horticulture, principles of plant growth , health and applied propagation. Finally gaining a level 3 Diploma in the principles and practices of horticulture.
With 5 years experience backed up with professionally recognised horticultural training my focus is developing the Garden and planting design element of my business helping to bring your garden dreams to life.
My Inspirations
Do I have a style? Yes, an electric one!
I love the quirky, bold, Gothic look of topiary. It adds a solid backbone of structure to a garden. It lends itself to a wonderful formality and equally works in an informal setting, complementing a contrast of light
and movement with contemporary planting.
If you ever get a chance to visit Levens Hall (picture left) in the Lake District, go! It's the home to the words oldest topiary gardens. Is awesome!
I'm also inspired by the Dutch garden architect Piet Oudolf who likes to plant in swathes of long flowering perennials and grasses, leaving them standing in their glorious form long past their best. (picture right)
Late Autumn and Winter dried plants provide invaluable food and shelter sources to wildlife, and also create stunning visions in your garden on a crisp, frosty day.
Most importantly, I am inspired by nature and wildlife in the garden.
We really do need to take special care of our pollinators, bees, butterflies, bats, ladybirds and our decreasing population of birds. With thoughtful design and planting we can help these crucial creatures to thrive in our gardens. Providing habitats using indigenous planting has a positive impact on biodiversity conservation. Native plants, for example, are needed to support songbirds by supplying food for the insects that baby birds need.
My inspiration for your garden will be taken from you, your dream. I will help take it to reality.
Your home and lifestyle will seamlessly flow through to your garden creating unity, balance and harmony.