Small Talk with garden designer, interior architect and author – Leonie Cornelius

Leonie Cornelius talks about her achievements, experiences, and challenges regarding garden designing

Horticulture

30 July 2026

In association with Gardenworld Nurseries

At Growtrade, we’re running an interview series titled ‘Small Talk’, where we talk to various influential members of Ireland’s horticulture trade.

This week’s conversation is with an award-winning garden designer, interior architect and author – Leonie Cornelius.

How did you first get involved in the horticulture sector?

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been surrounded by planting. My parents grew kitchen gardens throughout my childhood – both in Germany, where I was born, and later when we lived abroad on a Greek island for a year, where we harvested herbs, sage and olives. When I moved to Ireland at the age of seven, I became truly immersed in nature and discovered the magic of wild Irish landscape at that age.

I first studied interior architecture, so I was very much working from the inside of a space outward. I then went on to study garden design, which really ignited my passion for planting and design in a broader sense. My first professional foray into that world came when I started my own business, appeared on a TV show, and had my first award-winning show garden at Bord Bia Bloom – which won a gold medal and best in medium category in 2012. That really allowed my business to take off, and I suddenly found myself with wonderful clients and a full practice.

What was one of the proudest moments in your career to date?

When you’re designing show gardens, there are always these incredibly high-energy moments where you feel very proud of what you’ve achieved and the magnitude of what can be created within a three to four week build window.

One of my proudest moments was last year’s Nourish Garden at Bord Bia Bloom, which was a very personal garden for me. It was a dream I’d had for a long time – to create a space that embraced both the architecture of inside-outside space and the connections with wild nature, blending that inside out. It really brought together my interior architecture, my garden design, and my own personal history, while also addressing very modern issues like burnout, overwhelm and stress. It won a gold medal and felt like everything I had studied and that fascinates me coming together in one space.

What I also want to remember is that it was deeply collaborative. When all those people who help shape a space – the sponsors, the builders, the suppliers, the plant growers – come together and it’s a success, that is the biggest achievement of all.

What was one of the greatest challenges you’ve faced in your career to date?

Creating gardens is full of challenges. Every project, especially when it comes to the structure and build side of things, has always been a huge learning curve. When you’re dealing with building work, there are always problems – thankfully mostly solvable, but they take a lot of energy and time, particularly when you’re doing something customised, new and different.

The build side of projects has definitely presented challenges, but that’s also where I thrive and where I push my own limits. I think that’s precisely why it’s challenging, because I’m not a fan of taking the easy route. I’m not designing in a way that is expected or that has been done before. I’m trying out new materials, new shapes and forms, and new building methods. While it’s not easy, it is really exciting, because you’re learning new things all the time and developing your own design language – one that is recognisably you. Through building and planting practices, you start to develop a style that is unique, and that is what makes it all worthwhile.

Could you give us an example of a recent success you had in your work?

One of my greatest recent successes is how the different strands of my work are coming together so beautifully. Alongside my garden design and interior architecture, I have a real passion for journalism, writing, and events – giving talks and workshops – and in recent times that has really taken off.

I’m a member of the Garden Media Guild in the UK, I write for various national publications, and I also give corporate talks and do a lot of writing that connects to a wider community of people who are hungry to find solutions through nature and the wild in response to modern burnout. I’m also currently writing my second book.

What excites me most is that this creates a wonderfully varied, multidisciplinary practice – two days ago I was at Bloom hosting the Garden Stage and giving talks, and yesterday I was moving tonne boulders around a building site. That kind of multidisciplinary practice, where so many different things are happening at once, makes my work endlessly rewarding and means it is never, ever boring.

What are the greatest challenges facing the industry today?

There are quite a few challenges, but two stand out for me personally. The first is around support for small businesses getting started. When I began my business many years ago, I had to learn a lot of lessons the hard way – from tax, contracts and legal matters to marketing, branding, logistics and building a collaborative community. While organisations like Local Enterprise Offices are fantastic, there is nobody, as far as I’m aware, who specifically supports new businesses in horticulture with that overarching overview of what’s needed to bring a practice to a scalable level. So much of that knowledge is something you have to go searching for yourself.

The second challenge is being a woman in what has traditionally been a male-dominated field. Earlier in my career, before I was very sure of my trade and what I wanted, I would have had to work much harder to ensure things were carried out exactly the way I envisioned – particularly when it came to contractors and builders. Over the years, though, that has become much easier as you find the people who trust your vision and understand that every fine detail exists for a reason, so that the result is something everyone can be proud of. I now work with a wonderful team of talented and lovely individuals.

What are the greatest opportunities facing the industry today?

One of the greatest opportunities right now is that so many more people are becoming aware of the importance of connecting with nature. A lot of my corporate talks, speaking engagements and workshops are not necessarily for people who want gardens per se – they are for people who want to create something in their lives that brings them closer to the natural world.

I’m really seeing a widening awareness of just how important that connection is – a deeper understanding of the fact that we are part of a wider, wild system, and that we all need to work together to find more positive solutions for the future, and to find more hope and empathy through the beauty of nature.

The greatest opportunity, I think, is that people are genuinely hungry for that wild connection. And having a garden is such a simple and accessible solution – no matter how big or small your space, whether you have a full garden, a balcony or even just a windowsill, there are so many ways of bringing that nature connection into your life.

What advice would you give to someone just starting their career?

Dream big. Think ahead and imagine yourself five or even ten years from now and ask – what does my ideal life look like? Because often we go about building a business without really knowing what the outcome or the daily reality is going to be. So ask yourself: what do I want to create? How do I want to live my everyday? Do I want to be connecting with people, or do I want to be more on my own, growing things? How much stress can I handle? What kind of energy do I have? What kind of personality am I? Build your career around what is ultimately going to bring you happiness – because that happiness will also make you successful, and it will spread that inspiration and passion to so many others.

Never underestimate the power of mindful intention and setting goals that are bigger than you can dream of. When I first started out, I would have never imagined that I would go on to have several TV shows, a bestselling book, six medal-winning gardens, and garden designs across the world – writing for so many newspapers and magazines and being featured in everything from French garden magazines to major UK interiors publications. If someone had said all of that to me back then, I would have said – no way, that could never happen. But it did. So much more is possible than you think.

What are your hopes for the future of Irish horticulture?

It is a very challenging time, but also a really important one, because often challenges have a way of bringing people together. We all saw that during COVID, and now with the cost of living crisis and so many creatives and growers struggling, particularly in the food sector, there is a real need to gather as a community and support one another.

My greatest hope is that there will be more sense of community, more togetherness, and more people across the different areas of horticulture – from design to growing, from festivals to writing – coming together and forming a more collaborative way of working. Because when people come together, something forms that is so much bigger than isolated practices.

Small Talk is produced in association with Gardenworld Nurseries, one of the country’s leading wholesale plant nurseries, specialising in high-quality specimen trees, hedging, shrubs, and perennials.

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