Editor’s letter
What it is that makes growing things so captivating is something I’ve been trying to pin down ever since I planted my first garden. It’s a nebulous question and one I put to Allan Jenkins, best known as the editor of Observer Food Monthly but also a sower and grower at Plot 29, a north London allotment. Allan describes a packet of seed as ‘a pact with the future’ and an intuitive approach backed by experience. He speaks of being rooted in past and future, and working with rather than against the land. ‘Sometimes I just pop by the plot to say hello, or goodbye if I am going away’.
When garden designer Dan Pearson spoke to Sissinghurst’s head gardener Troy Scott Smith about his latest project, there was talk of Dan’s personal history in the work he is creating at Lowther Castle, Cumbria. ‘I drew upon all of my experiences, the plants I tended as a student at Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh to Ninfa in Italy to Hokkaido in Japan’. There is always something to discover in Dan’s plant combinations, and he describes exploring new possibilities as well as building in risk.
Arvensis Perennials nursery in Wiltshire is swiftly establishing itself as at the forefront of perennial plant selection. Owners Gussy and Robert Macdougall share their recommendations for 25 of the latest must-grow perennials on page 80. Plants, people, plans.
I hope you enjoy the issue,