My Life in Plants
The first plant I ever grew
It was probably a house leek,
Sempervivum tectorum, which my grandfather Otto used to grow on his roof. He was a keen horticulturalist and helped me to pot up these lovely little plants. Later in my career I planted rolls of them as green roofs. They’ve been grown on roofs since Roman times as they’re supposed to protect from lightning strikes or thunderstorms.
The plant that shaped the gardener I am today.
There was an old mulberry,
Morus nigra, growing in a park in Iver, Buckinghamshire. I loved its gnarly bark and huge leaves. My dad used to take my sister and I there to collect the fruits, which I’ve loved to this day. They have a very sweet, but slightly tart, taste that’s exquisite. I later wrote a dissertation on mulberry when I was a student at Kew Gardens.
My favourite plant in the world
I love so many plants, but I’m especially fond of lime trees, particularly the small-leaved lime Tilia cordata, for their form, vibrant green spring foliage, gold autumn tones and the lovely sound the bees produce when searching for nectar in their flowers. Walking in lime woods is one of the most wonderful experiences.
The plant that changed my life
The bear’s breeches,
Acanthus mollis. I love both the architectural form of its flowers and its leaves. So much so that I have a huge tattoo running the length of my body from neck to feet with its leaves by master tattoo artist Alex Binnie. That, I guess, is life changing! I planted a few recently in a design for the Monk’s Cell at Mount Grace Priory, in Yorkshire.
The plant that made me work the hardest
Currently box, Buxus
sempervirens. Box blight and box tree caterpillar are major headaches for all lovers of historic gardens and poor head gardeners. Do you replace them with similar species such as
Lonicera nitida, Ilex crenata or euonymus ‘Green Spire’ or use fungicide and plant ‘improver’ treatments, judicious pruning and cultural treatments to control the blight? Time will tell.
The plant I ‘d love to grow more
I’m deeply distressed by the recent declines in song birds, insects and plant species in the UK and throughout Europe. More groves of wildlife-friendly black poplar, Populus nigra, a declining species, would be wonderful and we’re investigating the possibility at Wrest Park in Bedfordshire.
The plant I am in human form
I’m something of a nature boy at heart and spent many happy hours in the Fens as a child by watercourses, fishing, walking and generally hanging out. If converted into vegetable form, I‘d be a white willow, Salix alba, rooting myself by a watercourse.
The plant I would give as a gift
Sacks of ‘native’ daffodil, Narcissus pseudonarcissus. They’re lovely, small, perfect and fragrant and a huge improvement on the over-large hybrids grown so widely.