About the Designers

As the days grow longer and temperatures warm (in an off & on sort of way!) the Chelsea section of Backhouse is starting to spring into life.

The plants are all being grown to help fulfil the vision of first-time Chelsea entrants Joe & Laura Carey.

The husband and wife team were finalists in the BBC Gardeners’ World ‘Garden of the Year’ competition in 2020. Spurred on by this achievement they set up Carey Garden Design Studios to concentrate on designing gardens full-time, and in just a few short years have been accepted to showcase their skills at the Chelsea Flower Show.

Joe and Laura have had an unconventional route into garden design, having originally studied Design and Decorative Arts rather than horticulture. They believe it is this creative background that helps them bring a fresh approach to garden design as they blend their understanding of space, colour and structure with their horticultural expertise.

They describe their entry, The Talitha Arts Garden, as a planted canvas and “a celebration of the creative arts and their power to restore lives.”

Having met at Nottingham Trent University in 2007, they now live and work in North Norfolk, with their two daughters, Celine and Daphne, and Bibi the dog.

As well as their Chelsea entry the couple have multiple projects in London, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Norfolk.