From banking to designing gardens…

Can you tell us about your current role?

I am a self-employed garden designer. Basically, I help people to get the garden that they want. It could be anything from helping them choose some suitable plants for a small border to designing a large country garden and everything in between.

What were you doing previously?

I joined the Royal Bank of Scotland straight from school after sitting my Highers, and I was there for 33 years. I started in 1983 when it was just a small Scottish bank.

I worked in many different areas of the bank over the years. I worked in the branch network for eight years, then various roles within Head office departments, including working on a help desk, incident management which was sorting out issues when the bank had technical or business issues – thankfully, I was on maternity leave in 2008 (the year of the Global Financial Crash).

Latterly, in my last 15 years there, I was a project manager working on change management and business improvement.

What made you decide to change careers?

It started in 2016 when a few things happened. I turned 50 in April that year. That was a moment. You think ‘How the heck am I this age? How did that happen?’

In July, my mum died after a long illness, it made me reflect a little bit that you don’t have forever, and it made me look at where was I in my career and my life.

Then in September of that year I was offered redundancy as the Bank was restructuring our department from 140 people to 40. I had been through many restructures in the past – and had to re-apply for my own job several times – but this time I decided to go for voluntary redundancy. By December that year, I had left the bank.

After working for an organisation for 33 years, I was tiring of the corporate world. I wasn’t getting as much job satisfaction as I had previously. It just felt like the right time and the right thing to do although it was a bit scary.

I was tiring of the corporate world. I wasn’t getting as much job satisfaction as I had previously. It just felt like the right time and the right thing to do although it was a bit scary.

What made you choose your new career path?

My interest in gardening has always been there. I grew up on a farm just outside Peebles. My papa had a walled garden on the farm. He’d work all day on the farm and then he’d go and do more hard physical work in his beautiful garden, which he loved. As a little girl, I would follow my papa around the farm, ‘helping out’. He was my hero. So, I’ve ways been a keen gardener.

In 2009, we extended our house and our garden. My friend and I did a night class, just for ten weeks locally, which taught how to design your own garden. I had a ball doing the course and then actually redeveloping my garden. The course gave me an insight into garden design process. So that interest has always been there, and I love gardening to this day.

How do you go about building your new career?

When I left the bank, I was busy with the kids, but I knew I couldn’t not work. I wanted to do something that I enjoyed. I started looking into garden design courses. I chose the SRUC (Scotland’s Rural College) because it was handy, and they provided a varied course offering qualifications at HND and degree level. I started my studies in September 2017 and graduated with a BSc Garden & Greenspace Design in 2021.

I thought I would love to help people with their gardens, and it could be a bit of a hobby afterwards. But I formed a really close friend group with three other ladies at the college and you start talking about the future which shapes your thinking. The college brought in designers to talk to us so we could get a flavour of what it was like. To be fair, I did like the idea of being my own boss.

With my clients, I have to understand exactly what they want for their garden so that I can deliver something that meets their needs. It’s very much being a project manager and a relationship manager. Those are two key skills that I’ve taken from my previous roles.

How hard was it to make the change?

I’d never studied before, but I had the redundancy money, and I had my husband who was very supportive. So, in a way, it was easier for me than for some on the course.

I got my first actual job through Gardening Scotland which as part of the course, we exhibited a small show garden at in our second year at college. It was like a small Chelsea Flower Show at Ingliston (an exhibition centre and showground outside Edinburgh). As part of our course, we designed, created, and built a show garden. During the show, we would engage with the public to tell them about the garden, which I really enjoyed. I started speaking to a lady who said that she needed help with her garden. She was my first client, a lovely lady from Edinburgh, and we created a very pretty, plant-filled front garden with year-round interest as she was a keen gardener. I’ve had three other jobs from people knocking on her door to ask her about her garden. It’s all word of mouth. If it had been a back garden that no one ever saw, where would I be?

What transferable skills did you find that you had?

Working with my clients, I have to understand exactly what they want for their garden so that I can deliver exactly what meets their needs. It very much involves being a project manager and a relationship manager. Those are the two key skills that I’ve taken from my previous roles in the Bank.

But one skill I learned at the bank is about prioritising – I still make a list of priorities every morning and must admit to having a spreadsheet or two. You make your list and then you follow through and get it done – this is my roadmap to move forward.

What would you say to other people who are thinking of making a change?

Peer support is very important. I still speak on a weekly basis to the friends I made at college. We still go on daytrips to gardens for research purposes. It’s good to build up a network of like-minded people. My husband will walk round a garden with me but get bored within the first three minutes. These girls will walk round the garden for three hours and will still be really interested in what we’re seeing.

Above all, you just need to follow your heart. Do your research, make a plan, and go for it. If it’s your time, you need to do it.