About The Kingsland Gardener
Dr. Krista McKinzey
Krista is a true plantsperson, having a passion for plants and studying botany and plant ecology for 8 years at university, culminating in a PhD.
Krista has been operating The Kingsland Gardener since 2018, helping transform and regularly maintain 12 gardens around Herefordshire with an emphasis on traditional gardening, whilst also incorporating organic spaces for wildlife to thrive.
Krista has been a passionate wildlife and nature enthusiast since growing up in the Midwestern American countryside and woodlands as a child. Her love of plants developed across the continents, having lived for many years in New Zealand, then later here in the UK, as well as working in Iceland. Her fascination of plants led her to focus her MSc and PhD on understanding past climate and glaciological change using plants to unlock these stories from around the world.
Over the years, Krista, her husband, young daughter and chocolate Labrador have moved from Scotland to Herefordshire, and she has enjoyed creating new gardens from scratch, renovating beds/borders and helping family and friends create their very own garden spaces.
If you desire to create new beds/borders or renovate existing ones with beauty, seasonality and nature in mind, please do get in touch for a consultation visit (no project is too small) – it would be a pleasure to work with you to design a planting scheme tailored to your own site conditions that comes to life through the plants themselves, as well as being a haven for wildlife.
“The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies“.
– Gertrude Jekyll
“Krista has worked for us for over 2 years. She is incredibly knowledgeable about the plants in our garden, and so helpful with any re-planting. We had just had a new terrace built when she started, and a border needed replanting from scratch – Krista was just brilliant with suggestions and has made this into a really lovely display. Can’t recommend her highly enough – she ’s a joy to have around (along with Teddy her faithful Labrador!).“
Kathie
“Krista is a lovely individual, hard working, imaginative and professional. I am proud of my garden since Krista took it in hand.”
Brian, Kingsland
“Krista is a very reliable gardener and excellent plants person, advising me on the right plants for the right places, always with gardening for wildlife in mind. She has helped me to revive my own garden, bringing it back to life for me to really enjoy.”
Stuart, Kingsland
“We are delighted with the work Krista has done in our garden. She is a proper gardener, knows what she is doing and does it very well. We are happy to recommend her”
Jim
“Krista is a capable and enthusiastic gardener who can transform an overgrown patch into an attractive garden. She is very knowledgeable about plants and growing conditions and also a joy to have around. I strongly recommend her to anyone needing a gardener“.
PH, Kingsland