Botanic Shed creates sanctuaries—transforming gardens into spaces of beauty, balance, and well-being. Through expert design, consultancy, and nature-based experiences, we reconnect people with the healing power of the natural world.
We love nurturing the plant world and helping people observe and understand nature’s processes. We use our vision and creativity to transform English gardens into places of connection for their owners. We also share what we know about plants and the divinity of nature to help people flourish socially and cognitively.
Welcome to Botanic Shed a wellness brand and a community of gardeners and healers founded by a mother and helped by her daughter who both are on a mission to guide you into a deeper connection with nature for a life of stability, harmony and vitality.
We were disenchanted by the lack of awareness about how gardening and being in nature is so powerful as a self-prescribed, preventative mental health care therapy. We were wholly supported through our own challenges by living in nature beside a beautiful woodland. That’s why we made gardening and teaching nature connection skills our job. Botanic Shed exists to help people prescribe themselves meaningful doses of nature connection.
This is a beautiful space where gardening and spirituality meet to support mental health.
We create and maintain gardens and run nature-inspired events that focus on nature as a balm for the soul and society.
Our logo, a simplified dandelion flower represents healing from emotional pain and physical injury alike, intelligence, especially in an emotional and spiritual sense, the warmth and power of the rising sun and surviving through all challenges and difficulties. Our name is inspired by the garden shed that Lara grew up working in alongside her siblings and Dad in Oxfordshire, England.
We are more than a wellness brand; we are a healing space. Join us on this journey towards a stable, supported, uplifting and happy life.
What we do
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Garden Services
Dedicated proper plant care from gardeners who are trained and guided by consultants and designers.
Garden maintenance covers pruning, garden clearance, garden renovation, hedge planting, hedge cutting, topiary pruning, lawn care, planting borders, beds, pots and propagation. With a strong focus on wildlife friendliness.
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Garden Consultancy & Geomancy
Horticultural direction and dowsing from consultants trained by the RHS (inc. MHort), Great Dixter.
Garden consultancy covers a garden audit, visions for your garden, planting schemes, plant sourcing, ecology studies, tree, wild meadow and kitchen gardens management. Geomancy is earth divination and healing (acupuncture).
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Garden Design
Creative direction and landscaping to renovate, restore or start your garden anew.
Garden design involves the creation of a space that works beautifully, visually and functionally for you the user. We have a strong artistic and nature loving background and specialize in creating calm and healing sanctuaries.
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Plant Connection
We help you lean into the abundant powers of plant medicine & nature connection for protection.
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Retreats & Coaching
Bespoke retreats and coaching packages that give you tools to guide you into stability and alignment.
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Healing Community
Our healing community is a place where plants and spirituality meet, bringing calm to your life.
About our founder
Lara is an RHS-trained garden consultant, designer, creative plants-woman, and nature therapy advocate. She is also trained in horticultural therapy, geomancy and earth acupuncture and writes for the Journal of Biophilic Design. She ran a series on BBC Radio Oxford called ‘Soil to Soul’ and has been interviewed on BBC Gardener’s World about her work. Her story, and the healing space she has created for others, has been published in an article by Thrive ‘The gardening for health charity’.
Photographed here with Satish Kumar, co-founder of Schumacher college, activist, emertius editor of Resurgence and Ecologist Magazine and author of Soil, Soul, Society.
“I was brought up in an old farmhouse, gardening with my Dad and with my Granny, when I stayed with her. I went on to work in our local garden centre in Bampton and after school, worked on a tropical flower farm in St. Vincent and played international rugby for St. Vincent and the Grenadines. In my mid-twenties, I worked with landscape designers while I also studied for the RHS Horticulture Diploma, and ran my own property business.
Now, I am the Head Gardener / Garden Consultant for a growing group of large, private gardens. I have a wonderful team of consultants and gardeners who help me.
I design and manage garden renovations and source all the plants and style floral displays (using natural materials like lichen, logs, and moss as much as possible).
My daughter, also a passionate gardener, turned twenty-one in 2021 and in the same year, we started working together on the gardening business and established an events community focussed on gardening and well-being. Together we are working on Botanic Shed’s mission to create a biophilic world.
We launched the Botanic Shed supported by a group of like-minded people who share our vision, including Karuna Priya a former monk, inter-faith chaplain, and mindfulness coach; the award-winning GP Dr. Jas Gill, Niamh Kendall, a therapeutic horticulturalist at Thrive, Louisa Chapman-Andrews at Cook Folk and Alex Laird, one of the UK’s top medical herbalists and author of ‘Root to Stem’ who we were honoured to work with at one of our retreats.
We also ran a series of YouTube interviews, which is aimed at sharing easy tips, gleaned from nature experts and nature-lovers, doctors, and monks, on how to relate to nature.”
During her childhood, Lara did her best to spend all her spare time outdoors in the garden and surrounding farms in Bampton, Oxfordshire. Lara also inherits her love for nature and horses from her maternal Grandparents, Desmond and Cherry O'Brien (along with a good dose of ancestral drama). She has also inherited the ancient hereditary title of Master Forester of Delamere. Her Grandfather was the Grandson of the 14th Baron of Inchiquin whose family home was Dromoland Castle in Ireland. Her mother's childhood home was the Arderne Estate which was the seat of the Utkinton Estate which had been passed down the centuries sometimes through the female line. Ardene was an expansive, forested estate in Tarpoley, Cheshire with five gatehouses, a dell, several follies, a wilderness, and avenues of trees like Rowan. Its simplicity and focus on landscape and shapes are an inspiration for Lara’s work. Much of the estate was lost in a tragic catalog of events.
“I love nurturing plants and developing gardens while honoring our connection to nature and helping my clients enjoy it too. I have done some profound work with plant spirit connection and studied earth acupuncture and geomancy in 2024 to take part in working towards restoring the earth to its natural balance. ”
Quote Source
“Nature has always been my natural antidepressant. My mission is to support nature’s healthy development and to share natural ways for people to feel better. My nature connection helped give me back my balance, and I know that it can help many other people too.”
— Lara
Gardener’s World with Lara Cowan
Can gardening help with neurodiversity? In this episode of the podcast, Lara Cowan, Founder of Botanic Shed and the School of Nature, shares how the power of gardening and nature connection has massively transformed her life in terms of managing the everyday experience of thinking differently and the fallout of a series of life-changing events. Lara also shares how she uses gardening, garden design, and garden therapy to enhance the lives of others and how she is inspired by and works closely with her 24-year-old daughter.
Meet some of the Team
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Lara Cowan
FOUNDER
RHS certified horticulturalist, garden consultant and designer with 15 years experience. Trained in wild meadow management and herbal medicine. Certified geomancer and earth energy healer. Speaker on BBC radio Oxford and Gardener’s World podcast.
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Kim Nichols
DESIGNER
Japanese and zen garden design specialist with 25 years experience. Speaker at the Horticultural Society and The Johannesburg International Flower Show. Specialized in traditional and contemporary Japanese, oriental gardens and meditation gardens.
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Tehya Cowan Hadley
DESIGN ASSOCIATE
Creative planting planner, plants-woman and propagation hobbyist with 5 years experience growing herbaceous perennials and shrubs. Special interest in ferns and clematis. Studied agro-forestry and therapeutic gardens at University of Sussex.
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Niamh Kendall
HORTICULTURAL CONSULTANT
RHS certified horticulturalist, vineyard owner, Thrive gardening charity volunteer, currently studying Horticulture Masters Degree.
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Karuna Priya
MINDFULNESS COACH
Masters Degree in Buddhist Studies from SOAS, University of London. He serves as an interfaith chaplain to Imperial College London and Royal College of Arts.
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Dr. Jas Gill
MEDICAL ADVISOR
An award-winning GP in North West London. She is a GP with Special Interest in Cardiology at The Hillingdon Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
Lara's story – neurodiversity and nature
For Lara, nature has been an ally to support post-traumatic stress disorder, neurodiversity and accompanying symptoms. She shares her story and the healing space she has created for others in an article published by Thrive ‘The gardening for health charity’.
Why children need gardening
Helping children develop gardening skills can benefit them now and in the future. Lara Cowan, founder of Botanic Shed, shares why.
Qualifications / areas of interest
Horticulture
Herbal Medicine
Geomancy
Garden therapy
Earth Acupuncture
Energy work
Landscape Design
Bio-dynamics
Great Dixter House and Gardens Wild Flower Meadow Course (2024)
Land and Spirit Geomancy and Earth Acupuncture Course (2024)
Heartwood Foundation in Herbal Medicine (2024)
Pulver's Apothecary Medicine Making Courses (2024)
Youth Mental Health First Aid (MHFA®) (2021)
BSY Therapeutic Horticulture Facilitator Certificate (2021)
Akashic Record Reading (2021)
Plum Village Thich Nacht Han Five Mindfulness Trainings (2015)
JP Morgan Social Enterprise Female Founder Accelerator (2014)
RHS Diploma Horticulture at Capel Manor (2010)
Chelsea College of Design (2008)
Initial Awakening Certificate (2007)
Bristol University French (1998-2000)
Published articles & interviews
Published articles & interviews cont.
BBC Gardener’s World Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3YQEpZGDEZqPPtqnuYLos7?si=NP9MYwQFS6uIE3jKwIz3Ig
Focus on Why podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/school-of-nature-with-lara-cowan/id1510330149?i=1000492738751
BBC Radio Oxford: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_radio_oxford
Journal of Biophilic Design article: https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/podcast-journal-of-biophilic-design/botanic-shed-10-minute-tip-1-soil
Journal of Biophilic Design podcast: https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/podcast-journal-of-biophilic-design/botanic-shed-school-of-nature
Journal of Biophilic Design various articles: https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com
Thrive ‘The Gardening and Mental Health Charity’: https://www.thrive.org.uk/get-gardening/laras-story-neurodiversity-and-nature
Thrive ‘The Gardening and Mental Health Charity’: https://www.thrive.org.uk/get-gardening/why-children-need-gardening
Visit You Tube for interviews and videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCckrjPetdGCl5wZ3WQuwiTg
Like-minded organizations
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Resurgence
Resurgence & Ecologist is a trailblazing magazine that offers positive and progressive perspectives on the most pressing issues of our time. Hope-inspiring and informative, it explores environmental and social justice, nature, ecology, food and farming, ethical living, spirituality and the arts.
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Hawkwood
Hawkwood Centre for Future Thinking as a charity, offer a specially curated programme of courses covering leadership, music, arts & crafts, and wellbeing, as well as hosting artistic residencies and events. They aim to encourage people to make a considered difference to today’s society and to our future.
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Medicine Festival
Asking the question “How can we be the medicine” this community gathering gives all it’s profits to indigenous tribes and works to garner and treasure ancestral, indigenous wisdom to help humans wake up to lessons from the past. It is about the need to protect nature and indigenous ways of life. A deep dive into nature and wellbeing and a positive platform for cultural exchange.
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The Stop Ecocide Campaign
The Stop Ecocide campaign was founded in 2017 by visionary UK lawyer the late Polly Higgins and environmental activist Jojo Mehta. Our mission is to support the establishment of ecocide as an international crime, in order to forbid and prevent further devastation to life on Earth. We are the only global campaign with this exclusive focus.
