Early Influences by David Gowing

As a child I was always interested in plants (and cows, but that is another story!) I do not remember exactly what triggered my interest, but by the age of four I had been given a little corner of garden to look after. I think my father hoped I would grow carrots, but I planted out one of the spider plants (Chlororphytum comosum) I had grown in a pot. It grew beautifully through the summer but fared less well when the frosts arrived – we learn by our mistakes!

My parents were not really gardeners, my father was a farmer, who grew all our vegetables in perfectly straight rows with not a weed in sight. He was not interested in flowers but liked things to look tidy. Our front garden had a bed of hybrid-tea roses (bushes of Kings Ransom and standards of Blessings, if I remember correctly,) which were well-spaced and pruned hard back in winter, with all the soil thoroughly turned over in both autumn and spring, such that the visual impact year-round was redolent of a recently ploughed field. I resolved never to grow roses.

I think my inspiration to grow plants came from my grandmother, Kathleen, who lived in a 1920s house on a suburban road in the local town. Her garden was probably a standard size for the time, but for a three-year-old, it went on for ever and I remember thinking the rose arch three-quarters of the way down was as far as I should go (perhaps I had been told not to go out of sight of the house.) Her garden was beautifully kept, but in a more cottage-garden style, with flowers such as yellow corydalis (Corydalis lutea) and Chinese lanterns (Physalis alkekengi) pushing through all the cracks in paving along the drive and around her garage. In terms of roses, a rambler went up over the garage and across a pergola attached to it, whilst a neater climber covered the arch. I am not sure I knew their names as a child, but I now suspect they were Albertine and Blush Noisette respectively. I remember feeling sad when my grandmother downsized to a modern house, whilst I was in my teens, and the old garden was left behind.

I had resolved to work with plants by the time I was six. When aged aunts asked the familiar question about what I would like to be when I grew up, I would confidently reply “a botanist,” to which they had no response. By the time I was ten, I was growing marrows on a semi-commercial scale in a field corner that was too wet for wheat. I would sell them on a stall at the end of our drive and I thought I had attained financial independence aged twelve when I made £100 in one summer! My grandmother was always interested and encouraging. She was a librarian by trade, so she always bought me books as presents; she chose ones on gardening and plant science with great foresight. Fifty-years on, one of my most treasured possessions is a Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera russelliana), which is a third-generation plant from a cutting I took of her cactus when I was just ten!

When I finally had a garden of my own, the impression of my father’s roses had not left me, so I planted no rose bushes at all, but rather followed Kathleen’s lead in terms of choosing a relaxed cottage-garden design. As children arrived and we moved to a larger house and garden, I finally decided to plant a rose – purely to hide the bins! I chose Kordes’ ‘Fruhlingsgold’ for its informality and scent. I then gradually started to acquire ramblers such as ‘Wedding Day’ and ‘Paul’s Himalayan Musk’, which provided an introduction to older roses in general. I now give pride of place to historic alba roses, such as ‘Celestial’ (‘Celeste’) and ‘Queen of Denmark’ (‘Konigin von Danemark’), one of which was planted in memory of my Grannie Kath, who passed away some twenty years ago.

I still work as a botanist!

David Gowing