I’m Sorrel Everton - and with a first name like that (sorrel is a herb and a small woodland flower) the question is whether I was always destined to love plants. Well, I absolutely do love plants and find horticulture an endlessly fascinating part of our world, which can offer so much to so many people.
I began gardening alongside my parents; my father in the vegetable patch, my mother curating the flowers and shrubs.
My original training was in publishing and I was so lucky to begin my career with BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine, followed by a number of years working on a wide range of editorial projects. I then returned to the horticultural scene working for Gardens Illustrated – feeling very much that I had come home. It was at this time that I gained my RHS Diploma in Horticulture Level 2 and really immersed myself in my own garden.
After 19 years with Gardens Illustrated, I went on to study Planting Design at the London College of Garden Design, and now pursue more directly how choosing the right palette of plants for the right place – and these days we need to think about the right moment in our climate change journey too – should go hand in hand with good garden design in creating an engaging, manageable and sustainable outdoor space for people to enjoy.
I am based in Bristol.
Contact for more info.
image credit: Jenny StewartIn the media
‘I don’t own a coffee table but [The Contemporary Garden] has inspired me to get one as I cannot seem to stop showing it off … A stunning collection that offers some much-needed horticultural escapism.’
— Ann Treneman
Garden Books of the Year 2025, The Times
The Coastal Garden: ‘Chock full of aspirational ocean-side private homes, this book makes for extreme garden envy.’
– Four Books to Inspire Every Type of Gardener The Wall Street Journal’s Off Duty ‘Adventure & Travel’
‘From cliffside sanctuaries and rooftop jungles to rewilded meadows and desert oases, The Contemporary Garden captures the radical creativity shaping today’s green spaces.’
— Gardens Illustrated,
The best gardening books of
the year 2025 The Coastal Garden: ‘Influential landscape gardener Nigel Dunnett introduces this visual exploration of 48 seaside gardens – some that cling to Mediterranean cliffs, others that back on to Australian beaches. It includes texts by garden writer Sorrel Everton and useful planting information.’
– Victoria Woodcock, Five brilliant books of garden inspiration, Financial Times How To Spend It.
The Contemporary Garden: ‘Jaw-dropping photography is paired with concise stories of the owners, creators, and their processes – all told with a sensitivity to planting and place. A feast of inspirational escapism.’
— Helen Griffin
Top 10 gardening books to gift in Christmas 2025, RHS
The Coastal Garden: ‘It is a book that does not merely catalogue gardens by the sea; it articulates a philosophy of resilience, place and restraint that feels both timely and quietly radical… Everton’s text neither romanticises nor overwhelms – it is accessible, technically accurate and free from jargon.’
– Joe Perkins, Gardens Illustrated