My Life in Plants
The first plant I ever grew
My earliest memory of propagating plants is growing cress on a kitchen towel at Aspley Guise Junior School. The excitement as the first radical appeared from the seed was so memorable. The thrill of propagation never leaves you.
The plant that shaped the gardener I am today
Grass, and that very British desire to have a manicured carpet of turf. No grass, no lawnmower, and without the lawnmower my life would have taken a completely different path. My earliest memories are riding around the garden on my father’s knee and then mowing my grandfather’s tennis court for pocket money. In my working life it was servicing garden machinery. There was even a model lawnmower on my wedding cake! Grass and the lawnmower are never far from what I’m doing.
My favourite plant in the world
It has to be the snowdrop. No other plant beats the beauty of this early spring-flowering bulb. My late grandparents, Robin and Joan Grout, first identified Galanthus plicatus ‘Babraham Dwarf’ at Babraham, Cambridgeshire, in 1985. They, alongside other Nottingham Hardy Plant Society members, founded The Plant
Finder, which later became the RHS Plant Finder.
The plant that changed my life Garrya elliptica – a plant I’ve known as a shrub since childhood. Seeing this plant trained against a wall on a dark night, with the light shining through the silk tassels, opened my eyes to using plants in ways that defy convention.
Plant that’s made me work the hardest I’ve had a huge challenge controlling the invasive weed horsetail, Equisetum arvense on the Humphry Repton Rockery at Woburn. I’ve tried everything, from miracle contact chemicals that only burn the top off, to the latest in electrocution techniques. I’m winning and gaining about two foot a year.
The plant I’d like to grow more of I first noted lupins on a trip to Iceland, where they’re seen en masse alongside the ring road outside Reykjavik. Alaskan lupine, Lupinus nootkatensis,
introduced in the 1960s as an efficient cover for eroded land, was a little too efficient and is now an invasive species there. In our maintained herbaceous borders at Woburn, the lupins are controlled, and with vibrant varieties available with stunning names like ‘Manhattan Lights’ and with fantastic flowers to match, these are a must for any garden.
The plant I am in human form The paperbark maple, Acer griseum, is my favourite tree. Like the maple, I’ll never be the grandest tree in the garden. However, I’ve characteristics that complement both the small, domestic garden, and the larger stately home. Like the maple, my skin is often brown and peeling after many hours working out in the sun and it often turns a brilliant red in the autumn winds and early winter frosts!
Plant I’d always give as a gift Definitely a yellow rose. My partner, Mary, pointed out to me that a red rose is for the moment, but a yellow rose represents lifelong feelings of friendship, optimism and love. A yellow rose brightens any garden and is the perfect plant to say ‘thank you’.