Potty about my penthouse plot

Dame Zandra Rhodes

FASHION designer Dame Zandra Rhodes, 77, has been at the forefront of style for more than 50 years and founded The Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey. Zandra divides her time between California and the museum penthouse where she has created a roof garden.

HOW I GOT THE BUG

I bought a house in Notting Hill Gate in 1973 that had a real rubble garden so I spent all my time reading about plants, then started with camellias.

When I moved to this penthouse my plants had to be hoisted on to the roof. Flying back and forth to America, while other people were reading magazines I would read an old illustrated pocket encyclopedia on plants. I still look things up in it now.

MY GARDEN LOOK I S…

Flamboyant, big and bold, with plenty of bright pink – just like my hair.

HERO PLANT

I got my camellias in 1969. They’re twice my size, they’re the best value and flower for three months of the year.

BIGGEST CHORE

I’ve got pots with white hydrangeas, dogwood trees, giant yuccas and sago palm, bay trees, roses, aloe vera, mint and rosemary and they need watering twice a day in summer with rainwater collected in our trough. Thankfully, I’ve got students who live here with me for free in return for working on the garden one day a week.

FAVOURITE PUBLIC GARDEN

The Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park, West London.