About Zoe Kilbride Garden Design
Capel Manor trained garden designer creating thoughtful, natural gardens across Hertfordshire and Essex
I'm Zoe Kilbride, a garden designer creating thoughtful, natural gardens for clients across Hertfordshire, Essex and the surrounding villages.
After a successful career in the fashion industry, I made the decision to retrain in garden and planting design at Capel Manor College, one of the UK's leading horticultural colleges.
During my training, I developed a strong foundation in planting design, garden composition and naturalistic planting, and was fortunate to receive an award for design excellence.
For me, garden design is about far more than simply improving how a space looks. The gardens people tend to feel happiest in are usually the ones that feel calm, balanced and genuinely connected to the way they live. Spaces that soften the edges of everyday life slightly. Gardens that encourage people outside more often and continue to evolve beautifully through the seasons.
Whether I'm working on a new-build garden, a family garden, a planting-focused project or a garden following a home extension, my aim is always the same: to create an outdoor space that feels welcoming, personal and designed around the people who use it.
Every garden is different, which is why I take the time to understand how you live, what you enjoy and how you want your garden to feel. The result is a garden that not only looks beautiful but works effortlessly for everyday life.
Take a look at some of my projects on the Projects page.
Planting Design
Planting design across Hertfordshire and Essex, creating layered, naturalistic planting schemes that bring structure, softness and seasonal interest to your garden. Ideal for refreshing borders or transforming an existing space through thoughtful planting. Plant supply and placement can also be arranged.
Garden Design Consultation
A garden design consultation for clients in Hertfordshire and Essex, offering on-site advice to explore ideas for your garden. We can discuss layout, planting, materials and practical solutions, helping you clarify the possibilities and decide on the best next steps. A written summary can also be provided.
A personal approach
Every garden begins with understanding how the space will be used and experienced. Some clients are looking for a calm retreat, others want a garden for entertaining, family life or simply somewhere to spend more time outdoors surrounded by plants and nature.
I work closely with each client to shape gardens around both the character of the site and the people living there, creating spaces that feel relaxed, welcoming and naturally connected to their surroundings.
Real gardens are rarely static. Children grow up, planting matures, dogs create their own routes through borders and somebody almost always decides they would quite like a firepit halfway through the project. Somehow, those details are often the things that make a garden feel most loved.
The gardens I enjoy creating most are the ones that continue to evolve over time, growing into places that feel as though they truly belong to the people who use them.
Planting-led design
Planting plays a central role in my work, with many projects focusing on layered perennial planting, ornamental grasses and naturalistic combinations that bring movement, texture and seasonal interest into the garden.
Every planting scheme is carefully tailored to the conditions of the site, taking into account factors such as soil, aspect and the level of maintenance the garden is likely to receive. The aim is to create gardens that feel immersive, connected to nature and enjoyable to spend time in, while remaining realistic to manage in the years ahead.
I'm particularly drawn to planting that changes through the seasons. The first signs of spring growth, the abundance of summer, the rich tones of autumn and the structure that remains through winter all play an important role in how a garden is experienced.
The goal is never simply to create something that looks attractive for a photograph in June, but a garden that continues to feel beautiful, interesting and rewarding throughout the year.
Gardens and wellbeing
I believe gardens have the ability to transform not just our surroundings, but how we feel too.
Spending time outdoors, noticing the seasons changing and feeling more connected to nature can bring a sense of calm that is often missing from busy everyday life. Sometimes it's as simple as having somewhere to sit with a morning coffee, listen to the birds or enjoy the garden after a long day.
Whether large or small, formal or naturalistic, a well-designed garden can become somewhere to slow down, reset and spend more time outdoors.
For me, the most successful gardens are the ones that become part of everyday life. Places that are used, enjoyed and appreciated throughout the year, not just admired from inside the house.
Based in Essex and Hertfordshire
My studio is based in Birchanger, near Bishop's Stortford, on the Hertfordshire and Essex border.
I work with clients across Hertfordshire and Essex, including Bishop's Stortford, Saffron Walden, Harpenden, Epping, Brentwood and the surrounding towns and villages, providing garden design, planting design and garden design consultations for a wide variety of outdoor spaces.
From new-build gardens and family gardens to renovation projects and planting-focused schemes, every garden is designed around the people who use it and the character of the site.
From the Journal
Thoughts on planting, real gardens, Chelsea Flower Show, wildlife-friendly design and the realities of creating gardens that work in everyday life
