Gardening talent

Meet Charlie Harpur the former garden designer now completing his Kew Diploma

Earliest gardening memory My first recollection of gardens is as a five-year-old, exploring the late, great Jill Cowley’s garden in Essex, which drew in visitors by the thousands for the National Garden Scheme. My grandmother would make the cakes and I’d be left to enjoy getting lost in that space of wonder. First plant love Stumbling upon a carpet of jewel-like spring squill ( Scilla verna) while clambering around Gurnard’s Head peninsula in Cornwall at a young age inspired my first plant obsession. Who has inspired you? My grandfather Jerry Harpur started Harpur Garden Images photography business with my uncle Marcus Harpur in 1992. Jerry would travel all over the world taking beautiful photographs of exotic spaces, and would recount some fairly wild stories to accompany them. Their talent and creativity, as well as the exposure to landscape and design, helped prompt my career direction. Marcus sadly passed away last year and I miss him dearly. Favourite planting style I have become interested in how native plant species can be used to create ecologically beneficial places. Your career path to horticulture I trained as an architect prior to joining Tom Stuart-Smith’s landscape design team. Tom kindly gave me more and more work with plants, as opposed to the architectural side of design. After a few years, I felt the need to gain some hands-on experience, so I took time out to work as an intern at the Chelsea Physic Garden, before applying for the Kew Diploma. Dream plant destination I am a tree man, and the temperate rainforests of the Pacific North-West provide a great deal of daydreaming at the moment. Diploma travel scholarships are coming up, so maybe dreams will become a reality. Unsung plant hero Our native trees are often dismissed, which is a real shame. The English oak Quercus robur for example; it’s rarely planted unless in a large area of parkland. Plant more native trees! Biggest challenge facing gardeners today Young people rarely seem to consider horticulture because they think it is underpaid and unfashionable. Ambra Edwards’ recent book Head Gardeners is on point, and quotes Mike Calnan of the National Trust saying: ‘It’s difficult to imagine a class of people who have tremendous skills, who contribute so much to society, and who are so thoroughly undervalued’. Contact harpurgardens@gmail.com. Instagram charlie.harpur