Botanic Shed

Botanic Shed Botanic Shed creates sanctuaries - we are a community of gardeners and healers developing gardens and running events. Lara Cowan

Through expert design, consultancy, and nature-based experiences, we reconnect people with the healing power of the natural world. Botanic Shed membership will help you move towards a brighter future, by focusing on the power of nature. You will collaborate with world-class members, and learn to heal and grow through a range of nature-based therapies and ideas. Through nature connection, we hope to help you to build new neurological pathways to sooth your mind and protect your well-being whilst empowering your existing personal strengths. "If every person could take a non-negotiable 1 hour out of each day and spend it outdoors in nature, deepening that innate connection we have with it then stress and depression levels would plummet."

Big and old, young and small…examples of the excellent process of cloud pruning roses. The first nine photos are of old ...
31/01/2026

Big and old, young and small…examples of the excellent process of cloud pruning roses.
The first nine photos are of old roses that have been cloud pruned for years and the last two are the first year of a climbing rose showing you how to start…to be continued.
The joyous thing about life is that Tehya is working with me and she’s loving using the cloud pruning technique herself so we have lots of lucky clients whose roses are being transformed into florals abundant sculpture.
Climbers love to be bent as it stimulated bud growth so the more you work with them the more flowers you get.

You can plant Allium bulbs in January. Just before NYE I spent time in the garden with my niece, Rose, potting up masses...
28/01/2026

You can plant Allium bulbs in January.
Just before NYE I spent time in the garden with my niece, Rose, potting up masses of alliums for a client’s planting scheme 🌷 The bulbs will be grown by us in cold frames and planted out in situ in May 🌤️

Giving children little jobs, letting them find their own rhythm, and just moving together through the work - it’s a way of meditating with each other. Being in flo, in the moment is being in the most natural state and it’s so grounding 🧘🏼‍♀️

There’s something profoundly calming about being in flow with a child, connected to the earth, and being away from screens. I truly wish everyone could experience this; gardening is good for the soul, and I start at home. 🏡

I hope more people can discover the joy of digging, planting, and nurturing, and we all become gardeners, finding calm, connection, and creativity in the soil beneath our hands. 🤲🏼 I want everyone to feel the peace that I find in the garden 👉🏻How does your garden make you feel?

This month at in Oxfordshire, I’ve been working with climbing roses using the cloud pruning approach; shaping and guidi...
26/01/2026

This month at in Oxfordshire, I’ve been working with climbing roses using the cloud pruning approach; shaping and guiding growth rather than cutting hard. The aim is to create structure and form, allowing the plants to hold space and move naturally 🌹Head Gardener and fern guru .topia have been showing me the technique and the roses are shaping up beautifully, like sculptures

As Asthall’s owner Rosie Pearson explains, the idea for the Asthall Manor cloud pruning technique was loosely influenced by Julian and Isabel Bannerman, who worked here around 20 years ago. Their thinking was simple: climbers don’t need to be cut back harshly each winter. Given time, they develop rhythm, character and a sense of continuity through the seasons ❄️

Cloud pruning asks for patience. It’s about watching how the roses respond, where they want to grow, and working with that movement rather than against it. The result feels calm, considered and very much part of the place. 🌳🌹

This week feels looong! Monday started with my energy healing event which was fantastic and I have since been across to ...
21/01/2026

This week feels looong! Monday started with my energy healing event which was fantastic and I have since been across to five gardens…getting pretty drenched today but loving it!
Lots to update you with but here are a few moments in my world.

Jobs we have been doing in the gardens:
Site meeting with the landscape team at a design project in Bucklebury, Berkshire
Planning kitchen gardens across our clients sites and ordering seeds
Rose pruning
Coppicing hazel to encourage fresh growth and to create materials that we will use to make natural plant supports. With our coppicing we are taking lessons learnt from so we are eco-engineering the situation and cutting down to the height that a Beaver might knaw it at).
Coppicing dogwood to encourage fresh colourful growth and sticking dogwood cuttings in the ground especially around the ponds.
Finishing the mulching where there are gaps asap being careful not to go where bulbs are emerging.
Pruning Choysia back (early yes but we find it’s fine especially when the weather is as mild as it is now)
Uncovering Iris Germanica corms that might been smothered in leaves - they must not be covered else they’ll rot and then need to bake in the sun when it’s out.
Planting up more daffodil bulbs
Sowing sweet peas from
Covering rhubarb to force early bright red growth (we ordered a new terracotta rhubarb forced from .co.uk)

And we have two more days of the week….more rain….bring it on!

Absolutely incredible first day at conference, originated by Adam Hunt and .tree and the team . 5 THINGS THAT MATTERED...
16/01/2026

Absolutely incredible first day at conference, originated by Adam Hunt and .tree and the team .

5 THINGS THAT MATTERED MOST TO ME:

1. Gardeners need to be disruptive herbivors mimicking natures wilderness activities (Coppice to Beaver height etc.)
2. As a nation we are staving our insects from nectar and pollen and must consciously select plants to nourish insects.
3. We must make scrub sexy - let’s bring Blackthorn into gardens for structure
4. Let’s focus on what a garden sounds like as opposed to what it looks like.
5. Round Up users need to be cancelled!! Well can we just ban pesticides please….did you know a Lime Tree was treated with glycophates and 5000 dead bumble bees lay beneath that tree a few days later. What the hell are we doing engaging in the vast, deliberate and deadly slaughter of wildlife? And poisoning our children..!! Don’t event start…85% of play ground equipment tested positive for the pesticide glyphosate - yes we are sprinkling toxic cancer causing liquid so we poison our children. Is this not utter madness that we CAN do something about?!

So many of my real life super hero’s are now people I am building friendships with. Sue Stuart Smith’s book is one of bibles for story telling around mental health and nature (it’s called the Well Gardened Mind if you haven’t heard of it). Here I am with Tom and Sue Stuart-Smith who run the community project.
2. .harpur Head Gardener at Knepp
3. of
4. .tree of
5. of
6&7.
8. and
9. of
10.
11. of
12.
13.
14. The team line up
15. A snap of me by 🙏
16.
17 & 18. Manchester by night (thank you 😇)

SWIPE RIGHT >>>> watch these beautiful girls emerge and bring us more light, more joy, more presence.
13/01/2026

SWIPE RIGHT >>>> watch these beautiful girls emerge and bring us more light, more joy, more presence.

06/01/2026

Hamamelis × intermedia Jelena
My joy today!

Frosty blue skies Brown crunchy leavesSilver artichoke handsSimple spirit liftSeems to me the galaxy is callingConnectio...
04/01/2026

Frosty blue skies
Brown crunchy leaves
Silver artichoke hands
Simple spirit lift
Seems to me the galaxy is calling
Connection with Mother Earth is what we need

Happy Full Moon to you. This season is seeking nourishment and grounding not urgency. Work on moments, minutes, hours o...
03/01/2026

Happy Full Moon to you.
This season is seeking nourishment and grounding not urgency. Work on moments, minutes, hours of keeping your body connected to nature. Out of your head and into your whole body connection to nature. Amen. 🤍🌝
Sending love on this Wolf Moon.
Crystals and water are charging up under her magical glow.
I laid a bed under the incredibly bright and star filled night …rather cold but totally wonderful out there.

Happy Full Moon to you. This season is seeking nourishment and grounding not urgency. Work on moments, minutes, hours ...
03/01/2026

Happy Full Moon to you.
This season is seeking nourishment and grounding not urgency. Work on moments, minutes, hours of keeping your body connected to nature. Out of your head and into your whole body connection to nature. Amen. 🤍🌝
Sending love on this Wolf Moon.
Crystals and water are charging up under her magical glow.
I laid a bed under the incredibly bright and star filled night …rather cold but totally wonderful out there.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang anyone?Walking into the drawing room to see this on TV makes me feel like everything is OK…throw...
02/01/2026

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang anyone?
Walking into the drawing room to see this on TV makes me feel like everything is OK…throw back to being a child at home with Mum, Dad, Nina, Johnny and Molly. This was on repeat over Christmas back in the 80’s!

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