THE BEARDY GARDENER

GARDEN DESIGNER • WRITER • PRESENTER • MENTAL HEALTH CAMPAIGNER

I inspire people to get gardening for their wellbeing

It’s lovely to meet you

Leigh Johnstone aka ‘The Beardy Gardener’ is a theatre director turned award winning garden designer who rediscovered his passion for plants during the Covid-19 pandemic. He is popular on social media and an active mental health campaigner, using his past struggles to advocate for the power of gardening to improve wellbeing.

WHAT I DO

Featured
DESIGNING
DESIGNING

My award winning design service is rooted in understanding how to maximise the connection between nature and wellbeing.

EMPOWERING
EMPOWERING

I’m passionate about spreading the joy of gardening to as many people as possible.

PRESENTING
PRESENTING

Drawing upon my background in theatre, I bring a captivating and seasoned approach to presenting and public speaking.

WRITING
WRITING

My words have graced the pages of the national and international press including The New York Times, The Mirror and The Telegraph

FEATURED

Beardy Gardener’s garden gathering

In June 2025 I curated my first ever Garden Gathering, a special event at the picturesque Longstock Park Nursery on the Waitrose and Partners Leckford Estate. 

I brought together lots of my horticultural friends for an inspiring day of workshops, live demonstrations, plant sales, and family-friendly activities.

This fundraising event supported Andover Mind’s ‘Garden for Mind’ initiative, a therapeutic green space dedicated to enhancing mental health and wellbeing.

  • That is very impressive dancing, a whole new angle and possibilities in horticulture. Fantastic!

    Monty Don

  • “Leigh effortlessly embraced the demanding role of hosting The Potting Bench stage at Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival, handling it with ease and grace. Additionally, he swiftly established meaningful connections with specialised plant nurseries all across the UK, going above and beyond to even help them develop their businesses’ social media.”

    Mike Cole, Royal Horticultural Society

  • ‘The Beardy Gardener's Giving Garden at Festival Place went beyond just being a beautiful addition to the surroundings. It had a tangible and lasting impact on local schools and communities. By providing a learning space, the garden was part of a valuable resource for nearby schools. Students had the opportunity to learn about gardening, sustainability, and the importance of nature.'

    Emily Palmer, Festival Place Shopping Centre

  • It was a real pleasure to work with Leigh on our young people's gardening and wellbeing project this summer - Leigh brings a wonderful energy, enthusiasm and sincerity to his work, sharing his own experiences from life as well as from gardening, and participants really connected with this approach. Leigh created a strong project brief with us, taking inspiration from the gallery and its historic garden, and turned this into a really inspiring and rewarding programme for all involved.

    Allen Gallery and Garden Project Team, Alton

  • “This great new garden design was developed with the local community as we listened to our customers vision of how the garden should look in terms of design, colours, textures and types of plants and flowers they wanted to see. I’d also like to thank the excellent support we’ve had from the Beardy Gardner and his outstanding level of expertise."

    Stevie Chadwick, Sovereign Network Group

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CONTACT ME

If I can help design you a garden, speak at an event, deliver a communtity project or anything else, then I would love to hear from you. Reach out and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

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