Curriculum Vitae, 2011

Activities

Principal of The English Gardening School, the internationally-respected school formerly at the Chelsea Physic Garden and now relocated to purpose-built modern premises at nearby Chelsea Wharf in Central London, and a doyenne in the world of Garden Design, Rosemary Alexander combines teaching and giving masterclasses worldwide with maintaining her own much-photographed garden, open regularly to visitors from many parts of the world. She is also 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 property, Stoneacre, near Maidstone, Kent where she transformed the gardens. Now living in Hampshire, she has created a new garden, now only ten years old but much photographed and featured in many magazine articles, including Gardens Illustrated and The English Garden.

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 a satellite branch. Occasionally she leads tours to various private gardens abroad.

Recently she has judged at the Chicago Flower Show, spoken at the Philadelphia Flower Show, and is a judge at the world-renowned Chelsea Flower Show. In 2006 she lectured in Budapest, San Francisco, Seattle and Toronto and also toured the USA with Horticulture Magazine. In 2007 she lectured and gave masterclasses in the USA, Moscow and South Africa.

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 2005, two further books by Rosemary were published – a revised edition of A handbook for Garden Designers (Cassells/Octopus) and The Garden Makers Manual (Conran Octopus). In 2008 The Essential Garden Maintenance Workbook (Timber Press) was shortlisted as Practical Book of the Year by the Garden Writers Guild.

Recent lecture tours have taken her to Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North America, Russia and Europe and in 2009 she spoke and judged at the San Francisco Flower Show.

The garden at Sandhill Farm House is open regularly under the National Gardens Scheme, and privately by appointment.

In 2011, Rosemary was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal by the Royal Horticultural Society.

Publications by Rosemary Alexander

• Landscape By Design with Tony Aldous (Heinemann, 1979)
• The English Gardening School with Anthony du Gard Pasley (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1987)
• A handbook for Garden Designers (Ward Lock, 1994 - revised as a new book in 2005)
• The Essential Garden Design Workbook (Timber Press 2004– revised in 2009)
• The Garden Makers Manual (Conran Octopus 2005)
• The Essential Garden Maintenance Workbook (Timber Press 2006)
• Dear Christo (with Fergus Garrett – Timber Press 2010). Published in the US as The View from Great Dixter.

Rosemary has also written various magazine articles and reference papers, and has devised the following Correspondence Courses:

• Garden Design (1996)
• Terraced Town & Village Gardens (1999)
• Practical Horticulture (2001)

 

Background

Interests: Gardening, travel, opera, walking, food and wine

Place of Birth: Bridge of Allan, Scotland

Educated: Beacon School, Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire, Scotland and Le Grand Verger, Switzerland

Examinations: GCE - English, French, Latin, History and Geography
Higher Scottish Certificate – English, History and French

For further information see 'Alexander, Rosemary Anne' in Who’s Who (1998 Edition) and The English Gardening School website.

Top | 2012 © Rosemary Alexander

Experience

• 1975-1979 Landscape architecture assistant Brian Clouston & Partners, The Strand, London W1. Undertook a 3-year course in Landscape Architecture, Hammersmith (now University of Greenwich).
• 1979-1983 Garden Design private practice and Course Director in Garden Design at Inchbald School of Design, 7 Eaton Gate, London SW1.
• 1983-present Founder and Principal of The English Gardening School - lecturer, broadcaster, designer, author and gardener.
• 1989-2000 Tenant and gardener National Trust property Stoneacre, Otham, near Maidstone, Kent ME15 8RS.
• 2000-present Home, studio and garden near Petersfield in Hampshire.