First plant love Soldanella alpina. I came across a huge swathe of it while on a descent from a climb. Its fringed purple bells push up through the earth immediately after snow melt. It’s hard to believe something so delicate can exist in those conditions.
Who has inspired your career the most? Both my grandmothers worked in glasshouses and were very green-fingered, so it was definitely ingrained without my realising. I grew up in Guernsey and spent many summers camping on Herm Island, and remember thinking the head gardener of the island had the best job in the world.
Trends come and go, you will hate a plant one year and love it the next.
Favourite landscape There’s a hike I repeat in the French Alps each summer, starting in a sub-alpine meadow and ascending through the Bérard Valley to the Refuge. The plants in flower differ year on year, and the vast range of habitats on the way up continue to teach me so much.
Three tips Be open-minded. Trends come and go, you will hate a plant one year and love it the next. Learn to propagate – divide plants, grow from seed, take cuttings. This should be part of every gardener’s arsenal. You learn a lot about a plant by digging it up and looking at its roots. Go to plant fairs and engage with independent growers – they are hives of knowledge.
I used to work at a newspaper. I would pot on seedlings before my late shifts, and turn up to the office with soil under my nails
Most valuable training My years spent volunteering at Brockwell Park Community Greenhouses in Brixton. It’s the reason I’m so passionate about passing on the gardening bug to other people through community gardening. I started out in the Thursday morning propagation group led by community gardener Cat Stevens. I used to work at a newspaper so I would pot on seedlings before my late shifts, and turn up to the office with soil under my nails. I still visit the garden; it feels like my horticultural home.
Where do you see horticulture heading? I feel we’re moving away from a block-planting style towards more dynamic, layered planting designed to evolve over time. Relaxed and less rigid. The current generation of gardeners is also more ecologically aware, and focused on biodiversity and food growing, which is being built into designs.
A garden rule you’re happy to break? Of course there are pernicious weeds to avoid, but so many weeds have wonderful ornamental and ecological value. Geranium robertianum ‘Celtic White’ and Plantago media are gorgeous in their own right and should have a place in planting schemes – they just require keeping an eye on.
Instagram @selinabutgreener
