About this episode

Jinny Blom discusses her journey from psychology to landscape design, exploring how her childhood experiences influence her work.

Jinny Blom is one of Britain's leading landscape designers. She has created over 700 gardens – and each one begins, in some way, with a search for security. Jinny trained as a psychologist and psychotherapist, working for many years in mental health, before a prophetic dream prompted her to devote herself to her lifelong interest in natural landscapes and gardens. Since then, Jinny has created spaces that promote the relationship between nature and health – from her sky garden at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital to a healing garden she created with King Charles. In this conversation, Jinny speaks openly about a childhood marked by abandonment and abuse, and how those early experiences shaped the way she experiences architecture and landscape. We talk about the childhood hiding place that still influences her work today, the unusual rules she follows when designing a garden, and how creating beautiful landscapes became a way of making sense of a very difficult start in life. This episode was recorded in Jinny's converted sixteenth-century threshing barn in Oxford. Join us over on Patreon to watch the full home tour. Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt Jinny's Current Work…

People in this episode

Host: Matt Gibberd

Guest: Jinny Blom

Topics covered

• landscape design
• mental health
• childhood experiences
• architecture
• nature
• gardening

Keywords

• landscape designer
• gardens
• mental health
• architecture
• childhood trauma
• healing gardens
• nature

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Frances Lincoln/Quarto

Books & works: What Makes a Garden

More episodes of Homing

• Is Your Home Keeping You Awake? Professor Russell Foster Rethinks the Rules of Sleep · September 9, 2026 · 59 min
• Charlene Prempeh: Why More Space Isn’t the Key to a Happier Home · September 3, 2026 · 1h 25m
• Lemn Sissay: What Happens When Home Rejects You? · August 19, 2026 · 49 min
• Anna Jones: Why Home Is an Act of Care · August 13, 2026 · 1h 15m
• Martha Beck: What Happens When Home Isn’t Safe? · August 6, 2026 · 1h 2m
• Poet Jackie Kay on Adoption, Identity and the Long Search for Belonging · July 22, 2026 · 55 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Homing podcast page.