Few people in the gardening world use their body art as a marketing tool and get paid for the privilege, but then Michael Perry, aka Mr Plant Geek, is not your average horticulturist. One of the most recognisable faces in the business, plant breeding companies clamour to have their latest creations emblazoned on his biceps, hoping they will be glimpsed on Michael’s QVC spots and social media channels or perhaps a guest appearance at a prestigious gardening show.
A celebrated horticultural polymath, Michael describes himself as plant promoter, ‘hortrepreneur’, traveller, speaker, TV presenter, author and model, but life was not always played out in the spotlight – though he says he was always a plant geek. “As a boy growing up in Suffolk in the early 1980s, my love of plants was considered too feminine and not cool. I was shy and bullied for being different, but would escape after school to my happy place in the potting shed or greenhouse.” His mentors were his grandparents, who grew chrysanthemums and dahlias, and he would accompany them at weekends to local markets to help on their plant stall. “By the time I was 12, I was selling my own plants at the front gate, and at 14 I started a herb nursery. I even put an advert in a gardening magazine – I only got about 25 orders but loved the entrepreneurial side of it.”
Leaving school at 16 with nine GCSEs, Michael went on to study at the local horticultural college. “The careers adviser didn’t really know what to do with me and suggested I sign up for a national diploma in horticulture. Luckily, I loved it, and while at college I worked part-time for renowned garden designer Paul Miles, helping him to source plants. It was good fun and I met some influential people, including design doyenne Rosemary Verey, who threw a lettuce at me – a ‘Lollo Rossa’ to be precise. I’d obviously said or done something to upset her, but I can’t remember what.”
I met some influential people, including design doyenne Rosemary Verey, who threw a lettuce at me – a ‘Lollo Rossa’ to be precise. I’d obviously said or done something to upset her, but I can’t remember what
Just before leaving college, Michael entered a garden design competition run by the local BBC radio station. “My design, which featured plants raised in the Suffolk area such as Hibiscus syriacus ‘Woodbridge’ and Benton irises, won first place and the garden was subsequently built at seed merchants Thompson & Morgan in Ipswich,” he says. “A job then came up at the company and I got it. I stayed there for the next 18 years, travelling to Europe and beyond looking for new plants and helping to compile the seed and young plant catalogues. My time at Thompson & Morgan taught me that you can be far more adventurous with mail-order plants than those sold in garden centres. For instance, we offered trailing begonias that would get too tangled on a retail shelf, and rosebud geraniums that look a bit untidy when young but then blossom into wonderful plants.”
He pivoted from shy back-room boy into social media star in 2012 when managing director Paul Hansord asked him to present the company’s award-winning foxglove, Digitalis ‘Illumination Pink’, on TV shopping channel QVC. The camera loved Michael, and Michael, to his surprise, loved his new role. In 2015, he took the plunge and left Thompson & Morgan to become a freelance plant promoter. “By that time, I knew the industry inside out and had loads of contacts. I was carving out a career for myself that didn’t exist before social media, just when many companies wanted to promote their plants online but didn’t really know how.” Offers started to pour in to present on TV and promote plants on his social media platforms. He even posed nude for a calendar for the horticultural charity Perennial. “It started with some friends as a bit of fun to celebrate World Naked Gardening Day, then Perennial got involved and asked if we would do a calendar. We ended up raising £30,000 over a few years for the charity,” he says.
I knew the industry inside out. I was carving out a career that didn’t exist before social media
A modern-day plant hunter, Michael now travels far and wide, looking for new plants to showcase to retail nurseries and capture the consumer’s imagination. He introduced the dwarf Living Creations Hydrangea paniculata hybrids to the UK market and his current plant passion is a new dwarf conifer, Chamaecyparis lawsoniana ‘El Paso’, which looks like a cactus.
As a gay man, Michael also uses his profile to help increase diversity in horticulture. “Our industry has an awareness problem, more than anything else. People just don’t know what jobs exist and how they could make a career in horticulture,” he says. “I also embrace ideas from different cultures and am intrigued by how people around the world interact with plants. On a recent visit to Japan, I learned a new way of gardening called Barakura-style, which is like flower arranging but with whole plants. The displays last about nine months, rather than two weeks, and you can then plant them in the garden – I’m now offering masterclasses to show UK gardeners how it’s done.”
So, what’s next for Michael? He says he doesn’t like making plans, preferring to see where life takes him. “I’d rather be pulled into a project and people request me, than push myself in. That way, you know you’re in the right place. It’s worked for me so far, and I’m loving every minute.”
USEFUL INFORMATION
Find out more about Michael Perry at mrplantgeek.com and follow him on Instagram @mr_plantgeek
With special thanks to Bottengoms garden in Essex where this portrait was taken
