This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/may/23/how-garden-grow-ian-gardner-designer-sutton-coldfield-autism
The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Previous version
1
Next version
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| How does your garden grow? Alan Gardner, designer, Sutton Coldfield | |
| (1 day later) | |
| I was diagnosed with Asperger’s two years ago. Afterwards, I looked on my computer and thought, “God, that’s interesting.” I found out on the Thursday and by the Saturday I was obsessed by the fact that I have Asperger’s. | I was diagnosed with Asperger’s two years ago. Afterwards, I looked on my computer and thought, “God, that’s interesting.” I found out on the Thursday and by the Saturday I was obsessed by the fact that I have Asperger’s. |
| Because I make a living out of designing people’s gardens, the one thing that’s missing from my life is the ability to grow something for the sake of it. The things I do for clients are very precise, with coloured walls and glass panels, so I just like to play in my garden. I get all the seed catalogues and then get overexcited: “Let’s try five of them!” | Because I make a living out of designing people’s gardens, the one thing that’s missing from my life is the ability to grow something for the sake of it. The things I do for clients are very precise, with coloured walls and glass panels, so I just like to play in my garden. I get all the seed catalogues and then get overexcited: “Let’s try five of them!” |
| I like growing annuals. Piet Oudolf, who does naturalistic planting, refers to annuals as soap bubbles, and I think that’s a wonderful term. When you think of corn poppies in the field – the flower lasts a day and then, poof! It’s gone, and I love that, the fleetingness of it. | I like growing annuals. Piet Oudolf, who does naturalistic planting, refers to annuals as soap bubbles, and I think that’s a wonderful term. When you think of corn poppies in the field – the flower lasts a day and then, poof! It’s gone, and I love that, the fleetingness of it. |
| Seasonality is important to me. I don’t want to look out the window in February and it look exactly the same as it does in August. We’ve got all sorts: ornamental grasses like miscanthus; aquilegias, penstemons, persicaria; and then where it’s more shaded, Osmunda regalis – royal ferns. Come June, it’ll be all flowers and foaming grasses, and it will evolve and get bigger. | Seasonality is important to me. I don’t want to look out the window in February and it look exactly the same as it does in August. We’ve got all sorts: ornamental grasses like miscanthus; aquilegias, penstemons, persicaria; and then where it’s more shaded, Osmunda regalis – royal ferns. Come June, it’ll be all flowers and foaming grasses, and it will evolve and get bigger. |
| I was 15 when I was shopping with my mum and dad, saw a cactus and decided I wanted one. Then my dad got me a Suttons seed catalogue and I thought, “Bloody hell, look at all the things you can buy.” The cactus was the start. | I was 15 when I was shopping with my mum and dad, saw a cactus and decided I wanted one. Then my dad got me a Suttons seed catalogue and I thought, “Bloody hell, look at all the things you can buy.” The cactus was the start. |
| Chelsea is one of the biggest buzzes on the planet; I love to do it. If a garden was awarded a bronze and cost only £250, who cares? But when you have gardens that have cost half a million to build, before the awards are given out you could cut the tension with a knife. | Chelsea is one of the biggest buzzes on the planet; I love to do it. If a garden was awarded a bronze and cost only £250, who cares? But when you have gardens that have cost half a million to build, before the awards are given out you could cut the tension with a knife. |
| Everyone with autism is different, but the young people I worked with on my new TV show, The Autistic Gardener, all had a big interest in gardening. They were utter heroes. I miss them, actually. Gardening is sometimes seen in the wider context as something that people “like that” do; but this is not a lesser career, it’s an amazing thing to do. | Everyone with autism is different, but the young people I worked with on my new TV show, The Autistic Gardener, all had a big interest in gardening. They were utter heroes. I miss them, actually. Gardening is sometimes seen in the wider context as something that people “like that” do; but this is not a lesser career, it’s an amazing thing to do. |
| My favourite spot | My favourite spot |
| Next to my clematis ‘Bill MacKenzie’: it scrambles through the shrubs with its lovely orange-peel flowers and seedheads that look like my hair, only faded grey. | Next to my clematis ‘Bill MacKenzie’: it scrambles through the shrubs with its lovely orange-peel flowers and seedheads that look like my hair, only faded grey. |
| • The Autistic Gardener is on Channel 4 in June. | • The Autistic Gardener is on Channel 4 in June. |
| How does your garden grow? Email space@theguardian.com | How does your garden grow? Email space@theguardian.com |
Previous version
1
Next version