THE JUDGES
2026 Judges Include
Sean Butler
Cube 1994 Ltd
Sean has specialised in the field of Landscape Garden Design for over 30 years. With a background in civil engineering Sean has an in-depth understanding of the design, construction and maintenance of the physical and naturally built landscape. Sean is a registered Member of the Society of Garden Designers (MSGD) and has collaborated with other designers to build award-winning show gardens at The RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2022, 2021, 2016, 2015, 2013 and 2012 and RHS Hampton Court Flower Show in 2014. Sean’s work has earned him a prestigious reputation in the garden design industry and has had much media attention.
John Wyer
Bowles & Wyer
John Wyer is CEO of Bowles & Wyer, a multi-disciplined landscape design practice based in Bedfordshire. It has been operating for almost 30 years and works worldwide to create outstanding gardens.
Mandy Buckland
Greencube Design
Greencube Design Founder Mandy Buckland, with 20 years experience, has maintained a small practise to ensure she is as the forefront of every design. Has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Garden Design, is an accredited member of the Society of Garden Designers (SGD), winner of SGD Awards and has been awarded Gold Medals at RHS Chelsea and RHS Hampton Court.
Rachel Bailey MSGD MAPL
Rachel Bailey Garden design Ltd
Rachel runs an award-winning design practice with a team of four in Scotland. Working with professional landscapers and local plant nurseries, the practice has created immersive plant-filled gardens from small courtyards to large landscapes working in the residential, public and commercial sectors. We love to help our clients get the most out of their garden whilst considering the wider landscape and regenerating green spaces to have a positive effect on biodiversity and on the environment.
She is a registered member of the SGD and design member of the APL, and the sustainability officer for the SGD
Gareth Wilson
GKWilson Garden & Landscape Consultancy Ltd
Leaving college at 17, Gareth has worked in the landscape industry since 1989 and is a multi RHS gold medal winner. Gareth is a member of multiple professional bodies. He provides technical and product advice to leading paving companies, mentors and trains landscapers across the UK, is an expert witness, provides arbitration and mediation services. Gareth is a level 3 trainer and assessor, an online and on-site mentor in landscape construction for contractors, garden designers and show gardens. Gareth is also BBC X-Rays garden and landscaping expert and a committee member of B/507 British Standard. gkwilsonlandscaping.co.uk
Philippa O’Brien
Pip O’Brien Garden Design
Pip O’Brien is based in London and has been designing gardens for longer than she cares to remember. She trained in horticulture at Reading University. then worked as a journalist for ‘The Grower’ magazine for about ten years. She has worked on gardens across the UK and in Europe and designed gardens at Chelsea, Hampton Court and some European garden shows.
A former Chair of The SGD she believes that gardens must be sustainable and ecologically friendly and that garden design has a major role to play in reducing the impact of urban development. An enthusiastic beekeeper, her planting tends to favour pollinators.
Ross Conquest
Conquest Creative Spaces
Conquest Creative Spaces is a multi-Award Winning Sussex Landscaping company that pride itself on its professionalism and attention to detail.
Founded back in 2008 by Ross Conquest the company become known for building complex design & build schemes gaining a solid reputation for delivering high standards of work and stand out projects, not just residentially but in the show garden world too.
Rod Winrow
Garden House Design
Rod Winrow, Managing Director of Garden House Design, landscaping and creating great gardens since a career change in 1996.
Garden House Design are now known for their above patio styling solutions working with other industry professionals to enhance clients gardens. Rod is an ex Chairman of the Association of Professional Landscapers, a Judge for SGD, APL and recently an RHS Trade Stand Judge.
Rupert Keys
TASK Academy
Rupert has been running his successful business, Keyscape Design & Construction for 30 years. He is also a mentor and tutor on the APL (Association of Professional Landscapers) Apprenticeship scheme at Myerscough College, Lancashire alongside his work with World Skills UK and tutoring at The Cotswold Gardening School (CGS). During his career Rupert has built many award-winning show gardens at some of the top gardening shows in the country. Most recently he was the principal contractor on the award winning APL garden in association with World Skills UK at Gardeners World Live 2021. The garden won ‘Gold’ and ‘Best Construction’
Rupert has been the landscape expert on many BBC gardening programmes both on camera and behind the scenes including Real Rake-Overs, Flying Gardener, Housecall and Weekend Gardener.
James Scott
The Garden Company
James founded The Garden Company in Hertfordshire in 1991. Since then, he and his team of designers and landscapers have been bringing clients’ dreams to life with bespoke, handcrafted gardens. James is highly committed to sustainable gardens that celebrate nature. With an impressive track record of winning national awards, he was named by Pro Landscaper last year as one of the Top 25 Most Influential people in landscaping.
Mark Draper
Graduate Gardeners
Mark Draper is a garden designer/director working for Graduate Gardeners Ltd for 30 years. Working on domestic gardens, from small town gardens in Bath and Cheltenham, to large country estate in the Cotswolds. Mark has personally won 3 RHS Gold Medals and Best In Shows along with 19 BALI awards. When not designing gardens, Mark can be found running the trails around the Stroud Valleys.
Pip Probert
Pip Probert Garden Design
Pip Probert is a Garden Designer based on the Wirral. With over 20 year’s experience Pip has worked on many private garden projects, along with various public spaces and commercial projects. She has also designed and built over 45 show gardens both here and internationally. Running alongside her design and build projects, Pip has also taught various courses from short one-off courses through to Introductions into Garden Design, Floristry & Art and even a Diploma in Garden Design. From Floral Design and Venue Dressing through to Mentoring, Assessing and encouraging Children’s Gardening in Schools, Pip is involved in an extensive range throughout the industry.
Brian Herbert
Outdoor Options
With over 30 years’ experience in the industry Brian Herbert established Outdoor Options in 2001 specialising in domestic projects in Surrey and the surrounding areas, winning multiple BALI awards and RHS Show medals during that time. In addition, Brian is increasingly involved in promoting landscaping as an evolving and attractive industry to the younger generation through his work with BALI and Merrist Wood College.
Pete Jones
Gadd Brothers Trees & Landscapes
Pete is an experienced landscape professional. He has a background in high end private residential landscape construction projects across the southeast of England, winning RHS Chelsea gold and multiple BALI Principal and National Awards through the years.
Passionate about contributing to the landscape industry and a champion for change, Pete has been a BALI regional committee member and BALI Regional Chair.
Rae Wilkinson
Rae Wilkinson Design
Rae Wilkinson is an award winning Garden and Landscape designer with nearly 30 years’
experience of creating gardens, based at Knepp in Sussex and working throughout the
Southeast, London and beyond.
Originally from an artistic background, Rae worked in hard and soft landscaping with some
esteemed designers for over ten years, before gaining a garden design diploma and moving
into design herself in 2007. An RHS Gold medallist, Rae provides sophisticated naturalistic
and modern design with sustainability and informed planting design at its core.
Adam White
Director, Davies White Ltd
Charles Blumlein
Location Landscapes
Charles has over 40 years of horticultural experience, built through work in historic gardens, nurseries, and landscaping companies. More than a decade ago, he identified a gap in the market and founded Location Landscapes, delivering a specialist service focused on soft landscaping and maintenance. He has worked alongside leading garden designers on a number of RHS show gardens, including Chelsea and Hampton Court. Charles is also Vice Chairman of BALI (South Thames), part of the British Association of Landscape Industries.
Mark Gregory
Landform Consultants Ltd
