‘It takes courage to rip things out, but you get that confidence after a while, after you know what could be, or should be. The main thing is that you want to improve the garden, building on successes and correct mistakes as much as you can.’
FERGUS GARRETT
Head Gardener at Great Dixter

In 2011, following Chelsea Flower Show, I wanted to stretch my own understanding of planting and wrote to Fergus the inspirational Head Gardener at Great Dixter, asking if I could serve an apprenticeship of my own. I wanted to explore a very personal vocabulary of perennials and planting.

Fergus welcomed me and gave me my own border. He told me to get my hands in the soil; to not be afraid to make mistakes as long as I learnt from them. His generosity of knowledge, his sharing of experience and his hunger to discover more is inspirational. Fergus is uncompromising in his standards but in a way that feels encouraging and supportive rather than exacting.

Working with him gave me an appreciation of the traditional ways, the old ways, the slower ways. The ways that are not so valued in these times.