If you get excited by flower beds and know the botanical names of all the weeds that sprout along the sidewalk, look no further. You are ready to be a celebrated gardener.

Talented and creative as he is inspiring and charismatic... garden designer Diarmuid Gavin speaks to Notes about a career in a green world. It may be a future full of dirt, peat and moss, but it is also filled with the fragrance of roses.

How did you get into garden designing?

I wasn't exactly the academic kind. I was quite creative and I wanted something that offered a lot of possibilities and ideas, I wanted to change things. After school, it was either being a chef or a garden designer, and I actually worked at a restaurant for two months until I realised I wanted to be garden designer. I love nature, I love being outdoors, and I was lucky to have been aware of that at such an early age.

As an artist, where do you get your inspiration?

Everywhere. It's important not just to take inspiration from traditional gardens but from all sorts of shapes and objects. Curiosity makes me question the way things are done and being a dreamer makes me try and find a different way of doing things.

What do you love most about being a garden designer?

I enjoy digging around and clearing things up. Always being able to make something new is a very exciting and personal thing. It gives me the chance to make a difference, which I think is the ultimate in creation.

Key advice for success in the world of planting

- Communication is key.

- Always listen to what your client is saying, know what they want and know their budget.

- Be true to yourself and true to your ideas and the reason you started in the first place.

- Do everything you must do to get the job done, and get it done properly.

- Don't do anything for the sake of doing it.

- Remember to dream.

BE A GARDEN DESIGNER

What does a person need to do?
- You need an understanding of plants and a knowledge of gardening.

- You need to be passionate and dogmatic about it.

- You must have a real desire to design gardens and be fully immersed in it, as it is not easy.

As a career path
- Work with someone whom you identify as a role model.

- Learn from them and get firsthand experience.

- Acquire knowledge and see whether you can handle it, even if you have to do some pedestrian work. This is a starting point.

- It is important that you stick through both the easy and hard times.

Are there any drawbacks?
- It is a lot of hard work and effort.

- You may have to work up to seven days a week.

- You need to be multi-skilled and you must know how to deal with all sorts of people.

- You need to have patience and plenty of it.

-The writer is studying Government and International Relations and English at the University of Sydney, Australia