My life in Plants
The first plant I grew
When I was around eight years old, my dad let me plant whatever vegetables I wanted. After much experimentation, I succeeded best with tomatoes, but couldn’t figure out carrots! This success and failure helped me understand some of the frustrations people find in gardening.
The plant that shaped the gardener I am today
As a child, I was enchanted by the chequered blooms of snake’s head fritillary,
Fritillaria meleagris. Although I now grow thousands at my nursery and am obsessive about some, I became ‘typecast’ with fritillaria after writing a book on them.
My favourite plant in the world
I love the deciduous shrub stachyurus with their pendulous primrose-yellow spikes in spring and rich pink and gold tones in autumn. I could happily have a garden full of them.
The plant that changed my life
When I held the National Plant Collection of the pineapple plant or eucomis, I exhibited them at various RHS shows, winning my first gold medal. Since then they’ve always been a firm favourite.
The plant that made me work the hardest
Ramonda. These hardy alpine relatives of African violets, dislike winter wet, shrivel up in summer heat and vine weevil love to eat the roots. I find them challenging to grow and have so many I often wonder if all the work is worth it! The plant I would like to grow more
The gloxinia relative lysionotus isn’t widely grown and is borderline hardy. I have eight species but, to my wife’s dismay, some of them have to be brought into the house for overwintering.
The plant that I am in human form
Dawn redwood, Metasequoia
glyptostroboides, just never stops growing and developing.The older it gets, the more characterful the tree becomes. My life, for 50 years, has been about growing and learning more and more about plants. The plant I always give away as a gift
I’d like to say it’s one of the many rare plants I grow, but the truth is it’s actually the hippeastrum. I find friends are always enchanted by the huge flowers. If I grow them to flowering stage they always provide a sense of achievement.