Tom Stuart-Smith & Katy Merrington in Conversation

As gardeners we sometimes kid ourselves that there might be something more enduring about our planting designs than there really is – so how do we delay succession and still have gardens with variety and complexity?  How do we design our plantings and how should we maintain them to maximise longevity? 

Landscape architect and designer of The Hepworth Wakefield Garden, Tom Stuart-Smith will be in conversation with the gallery’s Cultural Gardener, Katy Merrington, exploring the techniques you can use to slow succession down and create gardens that are resilient for the future. They will share ideas around soils, substrates, plant combinations and ongoing care.

On the day, a pop-up plant stall (open 10am until 5pm) will allow you to purchase and take home herbaceous perennials grown by Cliff Bank Nursery in an exciting collaboration with The Hepworth Wakefield. There’ll also be a specially curated selection of bulbs and garden books for sale.

Tom Stuart-Smith OBE, is a landscape architect whose work combines naturalism with modernity, and built forms with romantic planting.

Tom has designed gardens, parks and landscapes throughout the world and recent projects in the public domain include several projects at Chatsworth and the masterplan for RHS Garden Bridgewater, which is one of the largest new garden projects in Europe. Previous projects have included Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Jubilee Garden at Windsor Castle, Trentham Gardens in Staffordshire, the Bicentenary Glasshouse Garden at RHS Garden Wisley and the Keeper’s House Garden at the Royal Academy of Arts.

Tom has designed twelve gardens for the Chelsea Flower Show, including two feature gardens that were not judged. Of the remaining ten, all received gold medals, with three awarded ‘Best in Show’. Tom is a Vice President of the Royal Horticultural Society, a Trustee of the Garden Museum, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, a Fellow of the Landscape Institute, and a Fellow of the Society of Garden Designers. In May 2021, Thames & Hudson published a critical monograph of his work, written by Tim Richardson, which features twenty-four gardens from around the world. Throughout his career Tom has also developed his own family garden at home in Hertfordshire, which is now home to The Serge Hill Project for gardening, creativity and health