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Local Garden Designer is Celebrated by TV Gardening Expert as she launches book for 20th Anniversary

A local garden designer from Cookridge, Leeds, who this year is celebrating 20 years in business after switching careers from a Civil Service PA to a Garden Designer and Horticulturist, decided she wanted to mark the occasion with something that would leave a legacy, and she was delighted to receive the support of BBC Gardener’s World presenter and author, Adam Frost, when she approached him about being involved, when he was in the region recently for his own book signing.

Having spent the last 6 months revisiting her files, digging out hundreds of old garden designs and photographs, from award winning gardens, to everyday home makeovers, Maxine Nelson, 59, was reminded of just how different everyone’s gardens were, and how different people need and want different things from their gardens. She has always been an advocate of the power of making your garden work for you, and so she’s celebrated having pulled it all together in a book - ‘Maximising the Power of Your Garden’. Adam Frost has written the Foreword after Max chatted to him at his own book signing at Kings Hall in Ilkley earlier this year.

In the book Max, who is also a Guest Speaker at Horticultural Talks and a lecturer on Horticulture at Shipley College,  looks at how to create different kinds of gardens, from Sanctuary Gardens, to Easy Care Gardens, to Gardens for Fun and Hobbies, to Gardens for Families or Four Legged Friends. Within the book she’s also explored what gardens mean to people and where the power comes from creating a garden that suits your life. Each chapter also has an area for notes and self reflection so the reader can jot down their thoughts on what they would like to achieve. 

Customer reflections shared include them feeling “at peace”, “relaxed”, and “inspired” by their gardens, and one client Mary, noted “For me our garden symbolises the triumph of hope over adversity - and it’s a place to rest the mind and delight the senses”. Another, Alison, said her garden gives her “a big wrap around hug”.

Max’s own reflections shared that “In 2021 my garden became my escape when I was supporting and caring for my father, who moved in with us towards the end of his days. Often half an hour in the garden before my day started as my time to reset, to recalibrate, to just be me. I might choose to pot plants, or harvest our sweet peas as a distraction from real life, or sometimes just wander around in my dressing gown experiencing the textures and fragrances of the plants whilst I listened to the birds. Our garden was there for me everyday, however I needed it”. 

Adam, who is a Chelsea Flower Show award winner  said:“Gardens mean different things to different people and in this book Max shows how outdoor spaces can play a bigger role in our wellbeing than we sometimes realise. Also, it’s not about having perfect gardens - it’s about real ones, used and loved in everyday life”.

Keen to mark her anniversary with something that would enable her to give back to others, sharing her knowledge and advice, it was important to Max to celebrate the clients she’s worked with to date as well as her own journey in business. The culmination of this was an afternoon tea book launch at Fleur, in  Leeds City Centre last weekend. Max also paid tribute to her husband, Neil, at the launch. Over the years she has adapted their garden to provide solace for Neil, who now has dementia. Also a gardener, Neil was a huge inspiration for Max as she changed career and she credits him as being the best teacher. To thank him, Max had a special edition of the book printed in large format, to enable him to read and enjoy it too.

She also raised £294 for NHS Wellbeing Gardens, at St James Hospital at Leeds, which Adam Frost has also been a part of. This came from donations at the book launch, and predominantly through auctioning off her first copy of the book, for which a donation of £250 was made by Max’s first ever client, Shelley Wolfson from Wyke.

“It all feels like a bit of a dream now”, says Max, who over the years has won many awards for her gardens, including Harrogate Flower Show, and Leeds in Bloom. “Twenty years of designing gardens has enriched my life and I honestly still find this job such a joy. I can’t really process that I have written a book, and that the launch was mine - not someone else's. It was the most gorgeous day, a way to celebrate clients and also my own journey over the last 20 years - it wasn’t an easy process to get this book out -but I’m so glad I did it!”.

Maxine has been running her business locally in Leeds and surrounding areas since 2005 and local illustrator Jane Sherburn contributed to the book, her photos from the event were taken by Steve Bootle, again a local photographer, and Max was supported with the book launch by Jo Swann, from Leeds based PR agency Chocolate PR - all people Max met through a local BNI business networking group nearly 15 years ago.

Max said: “Leeds is a fabulous region to work in  and Yorkshire people are the most supportive I have ever met. It felt like a brilliant full circle moment to be celebrating with some of my old business networking colleagues, as well as clients, friends and family - I’m grateful for each and every one of their support”.

The book is available to purchase in hardback, paperback or oversized copy from Maxine’s website - Gardens By Max.

 

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chocolate PR .