Ollie Sage is the man behind Sage Landscapes and is involved with all projects in every step of the process. A self-confessed perfectionist with a sharp eye for detail, he considers himself as a highly skilled craftsman with more than a decade of experience under his belt. He aim is to maintain a small and dedicated company that is customer focused with excellent communication skills that listens to its customers.

Originally from Maidstone, England one of his first memories was helping his ‘old man’ cut down a Schumacher tree at the age of 4. He recalls wildly swinging a dulled blunt axe (Can’t help but think Work Safe might have something to say about that) trying to chop the limbs to fit in the back of his father’s car. Moving several times and revamping the family garden on a shoestring budget made Ollie realise that working in the mud with the bugs was in his blood.

Landscaping is inevitably varied, as no two sites (or clients) are the same and requires ‘multi-trade’ knowledge to be competent. Mixing this knowledge, with originality, provides opportunities that satisfy his need for creativity and difference. All this keeps him deeply interested in landscaping. He learnt his trade from the roots up through Hillier Landscapes, England where he was privileged to work on a range of projects from high-end small domestic gardens up to multi-million-pound contracts. He was handpicked to work as part of a highly skilled team on many award-winning gardens at Hampton Court, Gardeners World and Chelsea Flower Show. 

Most notable projects include:

• The Mars Garden – Sarah Eberle, Chelsea Flower Show (2007)
• Beatles Tribute Garden – Yvonne Innes Chelsea Flower Show (2008)
• Canarie Island Spa Garden – David Cubero and James Wong (2009)
• Princes Beatrice Garden – Chris Beardshaw, Carisbrooke Castle (2009)
• Warner Village Resorts – Sarah Eberle, Lowestoft (2009)

He left Hillier landscapes in the summer of 2009 and set up his own small company ‘Sage Bros Landscapes’ with strong focus on good communication and listening to customers. He offered a quality residential design and build service to Bristol, England. This was a huge success and his reputation amongst clients, suppliers and piers was soon known. Ollie was very sad to close this chapter of his life when he decided to emigrate to Nelson, NZ in 2012 where he was offered a project management/foreman position for a high-end local landscaping company. He enjoyed working closely with award winning designer James Wheatley on many challenging projects from unique and complex water features to large formal rose gardens.

In 2016, Ollie sought once more for independence and is excited to see where Sage Landscapes will take him and what captivating and interesting projects the residents of Nelson can challenge him with.