DOWN THE GARDEN PATH

Her distinctive style has made her a sought-after landscape designer amongst the A-list, for whom she creates garden schemes from intimate garden sanctuaries to scaled-up formal estates. Heidi Bertish chats to Franchesca Watson about how it all began and the journey that followed

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Becoming a garden designer… how did it all begin?

I was trained in the performing arts, but early on decided that the stage lifestyle did not suit me. My family have always been design-conscious, and I had many architect friends but knew I did not want to design with bricks and mortar or interiors. Landscape design seemed more meaningful and, when I encountered Patrick Watson working at Sun City, it all seemed to fall into place. At the time, there was no formal training for garden design but the Cape Peninsula University of Technology ran a highly regarded three-year Diploma in Horticulture. I was one of three women out of about 30 students on the course. My father was horrified that I was learning a trade and that there were very few women on the course. At the time, the course had been open to female applicants for only a year or two. I worked hard and, in my second year, won a training bursary from what is today the eThekwini Municipality. As a result, I think I had one of the most comprehensive trainings in the world – everything from golf courses to natural area management, landscape design, propagation and tree care.

You are a celebrated garden designer at the top of your game. How has the trajectory been?