Nicole Richie gets up an hour before her children.

The House of Harlow designer -- who has daughter Harlow, six, and son Sparrow, four, with husband Joel Madden -- thinks it's important to get some alone time away from her kids, so she wakes up earlier than them to watch the sun rise every day.

She told People magazine: "I am up before the sun every morning. I like a good hour by myself while everyone is still sleeping. I go out in the garden, relax and have some hot water with lemon. Just take some quiet time before I start my day."

The reality TV star, 32, has recently developed a love of gardening in the mornings and admits she's turned her back yard into a vegetable patch to encourage her family to eat raw foods.

She said previously: "I just started growing our own garden. I'm home a lot and we're growing our own fruits and vegetables. There's so many things in food right now and it's important for people to know and be educated on whatever they're putting into their body."

However, it's not just Richie's determination to eat healthily that is impressive as her choice of outfit while planting her seeds and bulbs couldn't be more fitting.

She said: "I love wearing my little vintage peasant dresses, but I garden in the morning and I'm really cold in the morning. I end up with a North Face (jacket), my husband's baseball cap, colourful sweatpants that I slept in the night before, and leopard slippers."