My Life in Plants
The first plant I ever grew
As a child, I remember planting cabbages with my grandfather Billy, a Cornish miner. He was ‘puddling them in’ as I was handing him the plants. Coming along behind was my brother, who was pulling them out as fast as we were planting them and throwing them to the chickens!
The plant that shaped the gardener I am today
Definitely Anemone De Caen. I grew 10,000 corms for cut flowers in my first commercial venture and bought a Citroen Visa 14 TRS with the proceeds. It taught me that, with good husbandry, you’ll reap rewards. And don’t be greedy and grow too much.
My favourite plant in the world
This is difficult but, seasonally, I adore the yellow and orange-red, late-flowering poker, Kniphofia rooperi and
Hydrangea serrata ‘Bluebird’, still flowering in September.
The plant that shaped my life
Definitely spring greens or winter green cabbage. When you’re confronted with inclement weather you’ve just got to get your head down, put your backside into the wind and keep going.
The plant that’s made me work hardest
The ‘Ambassador’ courgette or rather 6,000 acres of them! We picked them every day from June to October, harvesting around 20 tons from an acre. Each plant produced between 35 and 45 courgettes over the season.
The plant I’d like to grow more of
I’d like to have another go at growing Anemone De Caen, but pinks have also interested me as a cut flower. I’m also keen to grow sweet William and wallflowers in seed beds. Years ago in Cornwall, there was many a corner of a field containing these types of plantings.
The plant I am in human form
I’d be a globe artichoke. It may have the appearance of a thistle, but it has a big heart, with a leaf for everyone.
The plant I’d always give as a gift
A simple bunch of local cut flowers or a bowl of hyacinths at Christmas.