About Sally Tierney
Chelsea Silver-Gilt medallist. Two-time Harrogate Gold winner. SGLD Registered Member. I've been designing Yorkshire gardens since 1997, nearly thirty years now.
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Designing gardens with heart and purpose
I have been designing private gardens in Yorkshire since 1997, and I design them to be enjoyable to live with, manageable to look after, and full of life.
I began in horticulture properly, with an apprenticeship through English Heritage. It was exacting, detailed work, and it gave me a foundation that's shaped everything I've done since. I learned how gardens are built from the ground up: soil first, structure second, plants third.
From there I moved into private garden design. I was drawn to the particular challenge of designing gardens for people who love their gardens but do not want to spend every weekend fighting them. That tension between beauty and practicality is where all my best work happens.
I believe gardens should be a joy. A well-designed garden isn't just lovely to look at. It gives you peace and connection. And with a few gentle shifts, it can also support the wildlife around it. That matters deeply to me.
A beautiful garden should fit your life. And if it can quietly give something back to the world around it, all the better.
Sally Tierney
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How I think about gardens
I start every project with a simple belief: a garden that you can't maintain has failed, regardless of how beautiful the design plan looked.
So before I specify a single plant or surface, I ask about your life. How do you actually use your garden? How much time do you have? What would feel like success in three years' time?
The answers shape everything. The depth of borders. The choice of materials. The plants I'll put in and the ones I'll leave out.
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I draw every design by hand
Every garden I design, I draw by hand. Not with software, not pulled from a template, not assembled from parts I've used before. I sit down with paper and I draw your garden, line by line, until it's right.
I work this way because it's how I think. Drawing by hand keeps me close to the detail: the fall of a path, the depth of a border, the way one space opens into the next. A computer can tidy a plan up, but it can't notice the small things a pencil does.
It also means your design is genuinely yours. It's drawn for your plot, your soil, and the way you actually live, and you end up with a set of drawings you can hold, keep, and hand to a builder.
Credentials and experience
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RHS Chelsea Flower Show
Silver-Gilt Medal. The UK's most respected horticultural event. A Silver-Gilt medal reflects sustained excellence across design, planting, and presentation.
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Harrogate Flower Show
Gold Medal, two years running. Consecutive gold medals at Harrogate, a show with deep roots in Yorkshire gardening and highly competitive standards in garden design.
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English Heritage
Trained Apprenticeship. A rigorous, hands-on training in horticulture within the context of some of England's most significant historic landscapes. This is where I learned to look carefully: at soil, at structure, at what a space needs.
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Society of Garden and Landscape Designers
Registered Member. The Society of Garden and Landscape Designers sets professional standards for the industry. Registered Membership requires demonstrated design competence and ongoing professional development.
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Chartered Institute of Horticulture
Member. Professional membership of the UK's leading horticultural body, reflecting both formal training and continuing commitment to the field.
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Yorkshire Wildlife Trust
Former Trustee. A governance role that deepened my understanding of ecological responsibility and conservation practice. I carry those principles into every garden I design.
An RHS employee advised us to use a member of the Society of Garden Designers…because anyone can call themselves a garden designer! Sally has a robust combination of qualifications, experience…and medals, which underpin delivery of a professional yet personal garden design service.
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Wildlife sits quietly inside all of this
Wildlife is disappearing across Yorkshire. But so many of my clients want to change that. They want a garden that works for them, and gives something back to the world around them.
Gardens that support birds, insects, and hedgehogs don't have to be unruly. With the right structure and the right plants, a garden can be ordered, enjoyable and generous to wildlife at the same time. That's exactly where I can help.
What clients say on Google
One year on, our garden is just what we wanted, and (best of all) with minimal maintenance. Sally is very knowledgeable and a pleasure to work with.
The final design she produced is lovely and she ensured she captured everything we discussed, even the smallest of details.
Sally was recommended to us and she's been wonderful from start to finish. She presented us with thoughtful ideas and options, then took care of arranging all the work, making the whole process stress-free.