My Life in Plants
The first plant I ever grew
A cutting of the Brazilian wild petunia, Ruellia
devosiana, was given to me by a gardener at Belfast’s Botanic Gardens. It’s a really pretty houseplant with velvety leaves and tubular, pink flowers. It rooted really easily and I was hooked! Nearly 25 years later, it’s still going strong.
The plant that shaped the gardener I am today
Banana plants are the epitome of far-flung places, sunshine and jungle adventures. ge ita m When I discovered that Musa r A es m
basjoo could be grown in the Ja of sy te gloomy UK and produce six ur co s to foot long leaves and even little ho P bananas it blew my mind. The possibilities of gardening seemed infinite after that.
My favourite plant in the world
The New Zealand Christmas tree, Metrosideros excelsa. This extraordinary, crimson-flowered tree grows on the coast of North Island and dips its great limbs in the Pacific Ocean. A few years ago I sat under one and watched the sun rise over the Bay of Islands.
The plant that made me work hardest
Definitely the beautiful Chatham Island forget-menot, Myosotidium hortensia, which grows on the shoreline of Chatham Island, off New Zealand. I even made a special trip to the coast to collect a bag of seaweed to use as mulch as I’d been assured this would guarantee results. The plant died shortly afterwards, and to this day I’ve never succeeded with it.
The plants I would love to grow more of
Trees in general as there are so many fascinating species. There’s such a sense of perpetuity and giving something to the landscape by planting a tree. But with just a normal domestic garden I have to limit myself to just one or two. What I wouldn’t give for an arboretum!
The plant I am in human form
Probably a mock orange or philadelphus. A bit scruffy and undisciplined, but generally reliable and I do have my moments!
The plant that helped shape my life
Anigozanthos rufus, the red kangaroo paw. When I was interviewed for a job as an RHS botanist I was given an identification test. This unusual plant was shown to me and I recall the impressed
murmur of the interview panel when I named it correctly. I got the job and often reflect that acquaintance with that one plant may have changed the course of my life.
The plant I would always give away as a gift
Kalanchoe ‘African Queen’ is incredibly easy to propagate and just a fantastically reliable houseplant. In indirect light its flowers are orange, but in full light they’re fiery red. It blooms for weeks on end and always makes your life a little jollier.