My Life in Plants
The first plant I ever grew
The first flowers I ever grew were in a little seed bed – just a few annuals – and I do remember popping in some lupin seed that had been collected from a classic purple and yellow, bi-coloured plant in a neighbour’s garden. Back in the 1970s, everyone had lupins in their garden.
The plant that shaped the gardener I am today
Lupins obviously! Seeing amateur lupin breeder Johnny Walker, (who carried on the work of George Russell, the original lupin breeder) on Channel 4’s programme
Bloom in the mid-1990s gave me the impetus I needed to leave my job as a head gardener at the Clovelly Estate in Devon, and start my nursery with a specialist theme.
My favourite plant in the world
It depends whether you consider scent to be high on your list of priorities. Lupins have a lovely peppery, mossy scent but also, aesthetically, the rarer snowdrops with yellow markings are just a delight, especially at a time of year when so little else is out to admire.
The plant that made me work hardest
Growing and hoeing fields of thousands of lupins many years ago to make our best selections. That was really hard graft.
The plant I’d like to grow more of
My garden is stuffed full of my favourites. I do love my Daphne
bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’ and pale primrose corylopsis – the scent is overwhelming in spring.
The plant I am in human form
It has to be the lupin as I’ve been given the nickname ‘lupin queen’! Colourful, fragrant, bold and strong.
The plant that changed my life
It has to be the lupin, having spent the last 20 years trying to increase its fashionability and popularity. It must be one of the most photographed displays at the Chelsea Flower Show.
The plant I’d always give as a gift
I do love Clematis armandii and clematis ‘Winter Beauty’. They’re such lovely flowers and they brighten up those dark, winter months.