Earliest garden memory ‘Helping’ in my grandparents’ garden, aged around three. Probably not helpful at all…
Horticultural heroes When I was a teenager I spent a couple of years working weekends for Suki Urquhart, a Scottish garden designer who had moved into our village. She was an artist through and through. We struck up a wonderful friendship and she taught me a great deal about plants, gardens and people.
Favourite gardens There are so many. Cluny House Gardens in Perthshire, where I cut my gardening teeth; Benmore Botanic Garden in Argyll, which catapulted me on a career path I didn’t know existed; the Garden of Cosmic Speculation in Dumfriesshire, which I visited once as a student in about 2005 and which totally upturned my ideas of what a garden could be; Rousham in Oxfordshire, which is like walking through a dream; Little Sparta near Edinburgh which is like walking through a cryptic crossword… I could go on and on.
Most worthwhile tip I love the William Kent quote: ‘Garden as though you will live forever’.
Favourite planting style The style that suits the setting you’re planting in. Formal and natural each have their place, although I love it when circumstances enable the two to come together in unlikely ways.
One easy way to be more sustainable Support small, independent nurseries.
People need to get over this idea that trees in gardens are somehow sacrosanct. They’re not. If a tree is in the wrong place, it’s just a weed
My guiding principles Get to know a site. See it in different seasons. Work out where the wind comes from, where the sun hits on a summer’s evening and where it doesn’t quite reach in winter. Look beyond the garden – what’s surrounding it? What influences are there that you can’t control? Whatever you do has to work in that wider context. Experiment. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. And particularly, when it comes to trees, people need to get over this idea that trees in gardens are somehow sacrosanct. They’re not. If a tree is in the wrong place, it’s just a weed, like any.
Next big project I’ve recently been writing a new account of larches for Trees and Shrubs Online. They’re such beautiful trees, particularly the native European larch, but sadly they’re seldom planted now because of the threat of disease. It’s been an interesting challenge, trying to extol their enormous appeal while being aware that their use in horticulture is now severely limited. Anyway, I’m looking forward to getting it finished.
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With special thanks to Cluny House Gardens in Perth and Kinross where this portrait was taken.
