My Life in Plants
The first plant I ever grew
I stuck some flowers from a
Kerria japonica on to the bare branches of our lilac bush to make a ‘dandelion tree’!
The plant that shaped the gardener I am today
We have a ‘Bramley’s Seedling’ apple tree so huge that it takes two of us to hug its girth. It grows 1.8m (6ft) from the house and the odd levels in the garden mean we look out directly into its branches. The different levels make our tiny garden hard to manage, but we love it and have learned to work with nature in all its messiness, rather than against it.
My favourite plant in the world
I’m a sucker for cow parsley. I’m a proud Londoner born and bred, but idyllic childhood holidays were spent surrounded by swathes of cow parsley at a farm in the French countryside.
The plant that made me work hardest
From the rolling slopes of the Georgians to the immaculate lawns of the Victorians, the cultivation of grass is a big deal for the English gardener. I spend half my time removing grass at the allotment and the other half willing it to survive in our heavily-shaded garden.
The plant I’d like to grow more of
Last summer I grew my first ever crop of celery from seed. I finally felt like a proper gardener so I’ll definitely be trying again this year!
The plant I am in human form
It would be churlish not to say the linden tree (the lime, tilia). It makes me smile that the shields in the poem Beowulf are made from linden wood – I believe it’s strong, but flexible. Groves is my married name, so you can’t blame my parents, although we couldn’t resist naming our daughter Tilia!
The plant that helped shape my life
My working life has been shaped by concealing that I’m a plant ignoramus. In 2018, I’m working on the bicentenary celebrations of landscape gardener Humphry Repton and have been mightily relieved to learn from new research that he didn’t know much about plants either! (Visit www.humphryrepton.org)
Plant I’d give as a gift
Houseleeks or Aloe vera, as I like the thought of them protecting their owners from lightning strike or wounds, as per their historical and traditional uses!