Rosemary Alexander
Rosemary Alexander
Rosemary Alexander VMM(RHS) AIHort FSGD, Principal and Founder of The English Gardening School, is one of the UK’s most influential garden designers. She combines writing, teaching and giving masterclasses worldwide with maintaining her own much-photographed garden, open regularly to visitors from many parts of the world. She is the author of many seminal books on the subject of garden design.
Born and brought up in Scotland, then trained as a landscape architect, Rosemary was the first woman to be elected a Fellow of the Society of Garden Designers. For eleven years she was tenant of the National Trust’s property Stoneacre in Kent, where she transformed the gardens. Since 2000 she has created a new garden near Petersfield, Hampshire, much photographed and featured in many magazine articles, including Gardens Illustrated , The English Garden and Saga magazine ( September 2011).
A practical and ‘hands-on’ gardener, she spends much time travelling, lecturing worldwide and teaching garden design in Japan and Russia, where The English Gardening School has satellite branches. Occasionally and by request she leads tours to private gardens abroad.
She has judged at the Chicago and San Francisco Flower Shows and is a judge at the world-renowned Chelsea Flower Show. Her book The Essential Garden Design Workbook (Timber Press 2004) was awarded one of eight Silver Awards by the Garden Writers Association of America and also their Bronze Award for achievement. Translated into seven foreign languages, a revised edition was published in 2009. In 2008 The Essential Garden Maintenance Workbook (Timber Press) was shortlisted as Practical Book of the Year by the Garden Writers Guild. Her other books are The English Gardening School; A Handbook for Garden Designers; The Garden Makers Manual, with Richard Sneesby; Dear Christo, with Fergus Garret, and is the author of EGS distance learning courses.
In 2011, Rosemary was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal by the Royal Horticultural Society, for her contribution to teaching the art and craft of garden design. Her other interests include travel, opera, food, wine and walking.
Sandhill Farm House, Rogate