About
Sally started her career in horticulture at the Royal Parks in London as a horticulturist, where she began designing borders and annual planting schemes. In 2012 she moved to Colchester in Essex to work at the world-renowned Beth Chatto Gardens where she was a horticulturist and Garden Team Lead.
A fine arts graduate, she has completed post graduate studies in Landscape Architecture and Garden Design, and has been awarded the RHS Level 3 Diploma in horticulture.
‘Plants and gardens have been a part of my life since childhood. With over 20 years of practical experience gained from working with plants, I love being able to offer clients the chance to create beautiful, thriving nature-rich gardens that serve people and wildlife alike.
‘Designed with the right plants in the right places, gardens can thrive without regular irrigation, making them sustainable and lower maintenance, an important consideration these days when everyone has such busy lives.’
Sally Chandler Gardens is based in Wivenhoe in Essex and our clients are largely in Essex, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and London.
Herbaceous border, Queen Mary’s Gardens, Regent’s Park
All images are the intellectual property of Sally Chandler Garden Design
Testimonials
Lynn Dunne, former CEO, Bowel Research UK
‘Sal has a gift for using her extensive knowledge of gardens and plants and combining it with her knowledge of design to create and manifest her client’s brief. This was never more evident when Bowel Research UK was making its application to Project Giving Back for a sponsored show garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024. Sal sympathetically combined her knowledge of the charity and the microbiome with what we were hoping to achieve with the garden design, produced a list of suitable early career designers and made introductions.
It is a testament to her skills and understanding that the Bowel Research UK bid to Project Giving Back was successful and the garden won a gold medal at Chelsea ! The resulting publicity was fantastic for the charity and hugely increased national awareness of our cause. Thank you Sal, we couldn’t have done it without you!’
Lynn Dunne, Former CEO, Bowel Research UK
Garden Media Guild Awards 2019
Sally Chandler – Beth Chatto’s Plants and Gardens, Instagram and Facebook
Social Media Influencer of the Year sponsored by STIHL
Judges’ comments
There was a wide range of entries, all lively, diverse and informative from terrific communicators. They demonstrate why social media is now such an important part of spreading information and ideas on gardening and horticulture. Sally Chandler was a worthy winner with her original and creative approach to promoting Beth Chatto’s Garden Notebook. Sally created a beautiful celebration of the life of one of our greatest gardeners. She uses excerpts from the Notebook to compare the garden then and now, with beautiful up-to-date images illustrating the plantswoman's inspiring words. This approach, while simple in concept, has been executed with exquisite attention to detail and brings Beth's achievements and her spirit right to the core of this creative, content-rich information. Special mention goes to Charles Dowding, who ran a close second with his content, impressive in quality, quantity and spread across social media platforms.
Finalists
Jane Perrone – janeperrone.com
Charles Dowding – YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter