Behind the Television camera

When the BBC came to Iford

It was a cold, dark, miserable day in February of this year when Gardeners World came to film at Iford. As a gardener it’s frustrating when things beyond your control crop up to throw a spanner in the proverbial works, we really should get used to it, after all, nature is reliably unpredictable!

The approach I took was to try to second guess the shots that might look good on film and focus on making those look as presentable as possible given the time of year. In many ways Iford is a great subject for filming in the winter; it has a strong architectural framework that is complimented by a layer of evergreen planting which in summer is eclipsed by flowers, but in winter is revealed as the bones on which the high horticulture relies.

The small team from Gardeners World couldn’t have been nicer, they were humble, kind, thoughtful, respectful and professional. In a way that’s what I wanted to write about.

A garden is a stage, an interactive work of art. We help to provide the canvas on which a little piece of your life is played out. We aim to make it a good one. For me, in a perfect world the hand of the gardener is unseen, I don’t want the garden to look like hard work, irrespective of the reality.

The reality is that all of this talk is irrelevant without action and as a head gardener I am almost completely reliant on the team of people I have around me. If I’m doing my job then I should be fostering the skills of those around me. What you will see on TV is not my work, it’s Zoe’s spectacular rose training, it’s Tim’s faultless topiary, and it’s Alison’s inspired planting. This year Lamar’s mowing prowess has been added to the talented team. Underpinning that is generations of tenacious, inspired and mundane work by gardeners before us.

Two more groups I must mention; firstly we have had teams of volunteers who have made it possible to drive the garden forward in ways that we couldn’t manage without their help. I’m hugely grateful to everyone who gives and has given their time freely to help us with the garden, it’s a great gift which I am humbled by.  Incidentally most of the garden team is comprised of volunteers who became gardeners here.  Secondly, I’ve worked in a few gardens over the years and all of the good will, hard work and inspired ideas come to nothing if the garden owners are not passionate about the garden, and it takes real passion for a garden to thrive. At Iford we talk for hours about everything from planned succession in the tree belts, to the subtleties of colour graduation in a particular tulip variety, and it’s through shared obsession that we aim to enhance this wonderful inheritance and do all we can to avoid losing the magic that makes Iford so special.

If this is starting to read like an Oscar’s acceptance speech, then I apologise, but the truth is that, while it was wonderful to get the opportunity to talk to Joe on camera, I feel that my place is really behind the scenes, I’m quite happy there. If the garden team was a band I see myself as the drummer, I’m there to set the rhythm, to drive the garden forward whilst letting the rest of the team shine. I’m not immune to the odd drum solo though I must admit.