About Me

“I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.” Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

Over 25 Years’ Experience

I have been working in horticulture for over twenty-five years, gardening, designing and creating gardens. I offer garden and planting design, horticultural consultancy and project management, and I will help you understand the potential of your site, make the best use of your outdoor space, and see what can be achieved for the available budget.

At its best, gardening is a wonderful way of working with and nurturing nature, to create beautiful results. That’s what makes it so enjoyable for me. The challenge of transforming an outdoor space into a beautiful and functional garden makes every project exciting.

I am a fan of the Naturalistic planting style, and of mingling grasses and hardy perennials to echo plant communities in nature. Hardy perennials are my particular passion: the right plants in the right place give you a garden that moves and changes through the seasons – a truly dynamic garden.

I recently completed a really rewarding project combining hard and soft landscaping, in which I built a beautiful sunny rock garden from a former sloping lawn. The owners are delighted with the results, and we continue to develop the planting together.

Wildflowers are a wonderful way to attract beneficial insects into your garden, as well as adding a beautiful soft and natural transition at garden boundaries. I have created numerous wildflower meadows for my customers, ranging from small patches of wildflowers in a corner of the garden, to wide, sweeping meadows framing the property boundary.

My own very small garden is where I experiment with new plants and bulbs, different colour combinations, and garden art.

I am based in north-west Hampshire, and happy to travel.

My Qualifications & Memberships

Editor, The Hardy Plant, journal of the Hardy Plant Society, 2019-2025
Royal Horticultural Society trials judge
Garden Ambassador, Greenfingers Charity
Volunteer, Overton Community Kitchen Garden
Horticultural presentations and talks
Full member, Garden Media Guild
Accredited Partner, Wildflower Turf Ltd.
Full member, Professional Gardeners Guild
Advanced degree in Earth Science
RHS Level 2 Certificate in Horticulture
PA1, PA6 & PA6AW pesticide licences
Chainsaw CS30 & 31 licences

Testimonials

Private residence, Upton Grey

“Thank you Souren Ala - you have transformed our drought-hit lawn and made a virtue of the slope. It has been great fun creating it with you and I have discovered skills I never knew I had.”

April 2019 “Thank you Souren. We love our new garden. You have transformed it and along the way we have learnt a lot and had lots of fun.”

Wildflower meadow installations, private residences

5 stars. “Excellent in every way. Knowledgeable, very enthusiastic, thorough and careful both with preparation as well the placing of 3,000 bulbs and laying the turf. Also keen to check progress post installation and the flowering results which are splendid… we are very happy to recommend Souren Ala of Dynamic Gardens.”

5 stars. “Souren installed Wildflower Earth for us in the spring of 2017. Souren has always been easy to contact, extremely helpful and informative, and very committed to our project… [it] has been a great success.”