#MCCOTInterview {35}

Alex Fenollar, the Spanish environmental gardener who can design the garden of your dreams

Who has never dreamt of being the happy owner of a beautiful garden in which to relax and spend quality time with family or friends? Hard work, dedication and patience are  sometimes not enough. Indeed even if you have green fingers, you may surely anyway need the precious help and tips of a talented and passionate professional and experienced gardener as Spanish Alex Fenollar. A beautiful soul and human being, who unexpectedly discovered his calling for gardening after the loss of a loved one. In this sad circumstance, Alex immediately knew that he wanted to walk in the footsteps of his beloved father, who was a true nature lover. In order to become a garden designer, he read and learned a lot by himself. Took classes and got a master's degree. During the summer of 2021, he was lucky to train at the British Mount St John's garden. Alex is now an happy entrepreneur, owner of a flourishing gardening business managed with passion, who enjoys designing beautiful gardens. A skilled committed environmental gardener who respects, cherishes and celebrates every day the one-of-a-kind beauty of Mother Earth. A gardener who teaches his clients his love for Nature and a conscious way of gardening. Because caring and showing respect to your garden is one of the secrets to make it shine. Let's meet a talented man, who is able to turn almost every piece of land into a little paradise on earth. 

By Hélène Battaglia

Who are you?

My name is Alex Fenollar and I'm a garden designer.

When did you exactly discover your strong passion for gardening?

When my father passed away. He loved beautiful things; he had a very cultivated soul and he was always working the land, in the orchard, surrounded by nature. A very special seed started growing inside of me and I discovered that gardening was my true calling. My love for it continues to grow every day, as also does the love for my father.

How did you train to become a professional gardener and landscape designer?

I didn't stop untill I succeeded, and of course I still feel I'm working my way through this wonderful, challenging career. I started making my own experimental garden, I read every gardening and landscaping book, I encountered, I studied courses and a master. I spent a summer in the UK as a trainee in a garden designed by Tom Stuart-Smith... I'm constantly learning and, of course, as  I'm an entrepeneur,  part of my agenda is also making contacts and presenting myself to opportunities and clients.

In 2021, you worked in the United Kingdom as one of the gardeners of the English Garden Mount St John. How did this professional abroad experience influence your landscape style?

Mount St John is glorious, heaven on earth. The scale of the garden but also the attention to detail are matchless. The English climate and also the resources at Mount St John are very different from what I work with; but the sense of place, the force of beauty and excellence behind it all, is something I try to bring into every project.

By the way, how would you define your own landscape style?

Evolving, I hope, improving. Naturalistic but not always and not at any cost. I want to make gardens that are coherent and immersed into their surroundings. I want them to be beautiful above all; they should be moving and very personal to both my client and myself.

How do you usually choose the projects you worked on?

I need my clients to be sensitive and they have to believe in the garden. I am very passionate, so any project that is not fuel by passion, love for plants and nature, won't do it for me. You can feel this almost the first day you meet your client.

After visiting the piece of land of new clients, are you immediately able to imagine the future garden you can design?

Some ideas are intuitive and come quickly to your brain. Others need time, work, investigation, references, study... It's always a combination of both.

Did it happen in the past that you said no to a project because, at first sight, you knew that the place was not a good place to create something beautiful?

No, all places are worth trying. You can always bring nature and creativity to any place. Is the person behind that place who might not be worth it.

Which are the necessary conditions for a piece of land to become a future beautiful garden?

Soul again, a sense of responsability and the willing to create. We adapt ourselves to the land, not the other way around. Any piece of land, no matter how harsh it can seem to you, can potentially become an Arcadia. Or, at least, an enjoyable place. But you need to be able to dream and then work work work for it.

With the current climate crisis, as many countries, your home country Spain is coping with a significative lack of rainfall. As a gardener, how do you manage this negative impact on the environment?

This is a very important issue for me. It is probably what I think the most when designing gardens: how to make them work despite the challenges of the climate. I try to create shade, incentivate pergolas and patios; I encourage to use the appropiate hardlanscape material, with permeable paving; I care about the soil: I work with drought tolerant plants. I educate my clients on how to irrigate the gardens...

Since you started you career, which is the project you are the proudest of?

The ones with people that are deeply connected to their gardens and that take care of them as much as they can, making them more beautiful every day, even surprising myself on what we have accomplished together. There's no garden without a gardener.

Could you give us some good tips to create a beautiful and eco-friendly garden with a low budget and a low need of water?

Work on your soil, is the best foundation for a garden. Use mulching. Connect with specialized nurseries. See what grows around, you need to observe and understand nature around you. Don't work against the weather or the place. Try everything and learn by doing.

About your personal garden, how does it look like?

Different from what it looked liked yesterday and different from what it will look like tomorrow, that's the best part of it all!

All the pictures and video are Courtesy of  Mr Alex Fenollar

Alex Fenollar Jardines

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@alexfenollarjardines

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