Kyla la La Grange gets the same calmness from songwriting as she does from gardening.
Over a decade, the electropop singer-songwriter has racked up three albums and thousands of downloads of tracks such as Walk Through Walls, and Been Better.
But after creating her own horticultural haven in north London, she's putting her music career on a backburner.
As well as releasing and touring an album this year, she took a garden design course at Capel Manor College, and with partner Dave Pearce is nominated for BBC Gardener's World magazine's People's Choice Award.
Judges loved the combination of woodland and tropical planting in their 42 foot south-facing garden near Alexandra Palace station.
"We moved in three years ago and everywhere was covered in ivy with rotted fences, dumped rubbish, and a huge fig tree that blocked out the light," says La Grange.
"I'm not sure I should say, but I didn't plan it that throughly. I knew where I wanted focal points or where it would be nice to have a tree."
It was transforming a "wasteland" at her Seven Sisters rental flat that turned La Grange's fingers green.
"Before that I never thought about gardening, it gave me a taste for what I like and what I wanted to create when I moved in here."
Sourcing plants from eBay and small family-run nurseries - and pond water from Alexandra Palace park - she created a woodland area where the garden backs onto a disused railway line.
"There's a natural woodland area at the back which influenced the planting of native plants that love dry shade; sweet woodruff, foxgloves, snowdrops, ferns. The pond is the thing that has brought the most happiness. It attracts so much wildlife, I can watch the birds bathing."
From her kitchen window is a colourful display of tropical plants; vibrant canna resofolia, albizia, a red banana plant, a brugmansia.
"It's been a good learning curve finding tropical plants that are not water intensive with our drier summers. Cycas revoluta was bought as a houseplant, but has been brilliantly tough and drought-resistant in the garden. We love to have people round especially on a summer evening. Now we have a little space that's very peaceful and feels like a bit of wilderness in the city."
The 36-year-old Cambridge Graduate, emerged onti the music scene in 2011, releasing albums Ashes and Cut Your Teeth with Sony. She released her third; While Your Heart's Still Beating, herself.
"I'd always had labels and management, this was my first time doing everything on my own. While it was a tough experience I felt a lot more ownership and pride. It was difficult, but satisfying."
La Grange says gardening has boosted her mental health.
"I can't put into words how much it has helped. I don't know if I would be as ok as I am now if I hadn't discovered gardening. When I was younger I struggled with anxiety and depression but in the last 10 years since I have been gardening, it's had a huge impact on how I calm myself. I go into a bit of a trance and feel totally content, it's such a rare feeling of competeleness."
And she sees "strong parallels between songwriting and gardening."
"They are the two things when I feel most at peace. If I am writing a song I lose track of time passing, and I get the same feeling gardening. Songwriting was a way of releasing angst and anxiety, but as I get older and feel more peaceful, and spend more time gardening I write fewer and fewer songs. That creative outlet is channelled into something different."
Her tour finished in October and she's unsure when she will perform again.
"It was my first tour for five years - I was dreading it because I am more a writer than a performer, but it felt nice to play the songs live. I would always have felt a piece of the puzzle hadn't been completed, but I got home and realised I'm not someone who wants to spend their life on the road."
Now helping friends renovate their garden, and with a sideline as a freelance copywriter, she won't miss an industry that's "everything at once or nothing at all."
"It's a tough industry, there are no guarantees and that's not good for your self confidence, that's why I started my freelance career to have a feeling of achieving things.
"I am so grateful for the career I have had in music. I'll always be glad that I did it, but it's not something I feel I have to do. I was never particularly ambitious. I wrote when I needed to, but now I feel the need to write less and less. I may release other things in the future, but putting out this album, I felt a sense of summing up the last few years. Put it to bed, send it off into the world, it's satisfying."
Voting closes at noon on November 14 for BBC Gardener's World Magazine's People's Choice garden of the year. https://www.gardenersworld.com/news/gardens-of-the-year-competition-2021/
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