Gardening talent Meet Mark Cox, the head gardener at Folly Farm in Berkshire

A former City worker, Mark is now head gardener at Folly Farm, where the garden was designed by Lutyens and Jekyll, and more recently Dan Pearson

Earliest gardening memory Working with my grandfather in his garden in Manchester – pulling rhubarb stems and the smell of ripening tomatoes that permeated the greenhouse on the occasional sunny day. Who has inspired your career the most? Stephen Crisp, head gardener at Winfield House, Regent’s Park, London, has been my mentor and friend for many years. I’ve never seen him give up the opportunity to push the horticultural cause or challenge people to think about the future of both gardening and gardeners. If gardening is a career change, what did you do before? After studying Geography at Oxford, I went into the City. My epiphany was born out of being stuck underground on the Central Line in the middle of summer. Looking around at the stressed, pale and sweaty older men in suits, I thought: ‘I don’t want to be like that in 20 years’. Favourite garden that has influenced you Parc André Citroën in Paris – pure genius and I try to visit every time I’m there. Having said that, I’ve totally fallen in love with Folly Farm and it inspires me daily. With whom would you most like to have tea in the garden? I once managed to convince American landscape architect Martha Schwartz to give a lecture at Kew, and she had the audience eating out of her hand. I’d love to put her together with Stephen Fry, David Attenborough, Mary Berry and a good supply of gin and tonics. Dream plant destination I’ve heard rumours of a valley in the high Himalayas, only accessible by foot, which is completely carpeted in flowers just after the snow-melt. Biggest challenge facing gardeners today It takes years to train as a skilled horticulturist, and across the industry, salaries have failed to keep up with cost of living. I’ve trained apprentices in London who could barely afford the bus ride into work for a hard day’s physical labour. It’s sad to see our largest institutions advertising head gardener and other highly skilled roles on salaries that are lower than that of a cleaner at a train station. Guiding horticultural principles A sensitivity to the environment, ecological sustainability, and an appreciation of soils, growing media and plant communities. Favourite gardening books Tony Lord’s The Encyclopedia of Planting Combinations. I can lose myself in that tome for hours,