Known as the Nation’s Head Gardener, Alan Titchmarsh has, for decades, shared his passion for plants.
Unlike the gardens of other TV presenters, however, his has remained private — until now.
This week, for the first time, he invited TV cameras into that secret garden for an ITV programme, Fifty Shades Of Green With Alan Titchmarsh, to celebrate his half-a-century spent in gardens.
Known as the Nation’s Head Gardener, Alan Titchmarsh has, for decades, shared his passion for plants. Rather than safe, soft pastels, Alan plants flowerbeds with a mixture of colours from border perennials, flowering shrubs, roses and trees
He introduced viewers to his 50 favourite horticultural spots around Britain, from London’s Kew Gardens, where he worked as a young gardener, to the glorious formal greenery of Sissinghurst Castle in Kent.
But he saved the best till last. No 1 is Alan’s own garden at his Hampshire home, where he has lived for 17 years.
Alan presented TV shows from his previous two gardens, but this time he was determined the space would be purely for him and his family, a place of solace and enjoyment.
This week, for the first time, he invited TV cameras into that secret garden for an ITV programme, Fifty Shades Of Green With Alan Titchmarsh, to celebrate his half-a-century spent in gardens
He says: ‘It’s only now that I’ve been happy to let the cameras in for the first time.’
Alan and wife Alison set about creating their dream garden when they bought the house in 2002.
As he wrote in Gardeners’ World magazine in October, ‘it reflects my passion, my tastes, my love of beauty and wildlife’. This garden, he added, ‘mirrors my soul more than any other’.
There is a wildflower meadow, a pond teeming with wildlife, more formal water features, clipped hedges, a central lawn and an avenue of yew cones.
There is also a 100ft- high mound his grandchildren call The Mountain. They love rolling down it — or sledging down it in the snow.
The balance of formal and informal — flowerbeds bursting with colour bordering neat lawns — is stunning. Here, we take a peek at some of the highlights of Alan’s Secret Garden.
How Grandad sowed the seeds
His earliest memories are of gardening with his grandfather on his allotment in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, where he grew up
In Alan’s potting shed, he keeps a selection of tools large and small, but there is one of which he is especially fond: his grandfather’s spade, which, he says, is ‘almost ceremonial now’.
His earliest memories are of gardening with his grandfather on his allotment in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, where he grew up.
For the Fifty Shades Of Green show, he returned to the allotment and, visibly moved, said it was ‘thanks to those childhood days I developed an unwavering passion for all things green’.
Lawn unto himself…
A fan of organic gardening for more than 30 years, Alan does not use chemical weedkillers or fertilisers.
Lawns get a feed of blood, fish and bonemeal, and daisies and dandelions are pulled out with a daisy-grubber. Small weeds are allowed to remain.
A fan of organic gardening for more than 30 years, Alan does not use chemical weedkillers or fertilisers. Titchmarsh is pictured moving, above
Having a gas in the greenhouse
Alan’s love affair with greenhouses began early, when he built his first one, aged 12, out of salvaged lumps of wood, bits of timber and a sheet of polythene.
His present structure, with its Victorian design, is considerably smarter, but ‘the pleasure remains the same’.
He grows some of his favourite plants there, from pelargoniums to geraniums, and cucumbers to tomatoes, plus a sweet mimosa from Elton John’s garden.
Alan’s love affair with greenhouses began early, when he built his first one aged 12. He is pictured in his greenhouse with the pink plant Elton John’s gardener gave him
‘I’ve always believed gardens are as much about wildlife as plants,’ says Alan — and ponds are wildlife magnets
Pond life
Moorhens raise their young in the duck house, pictured above
‘I’ve always believed gardens are as much about wildlife as plants,’ says Alan — and ponds are wildlife magnets.
He loves to sit and contemplate the water lilies, abundant damselflies and roach.
The pond is teeming with the fish, while moorhens raise their young in the duck house.
‘Being lucky enough to have the space for a wildflower meadow and pond means I can do my bit for conservation.’
Rill thrills
Alan has always loved the neatness of rills — shallow channels of water cut into soil. His own makes a soothing, burbling sound.
Alan says: ‘There is a moment at 11.30am on a June day when the sun shines right down that rill and turns each of those little tiny waterfalls silver, and I can set my watch by it and it’s lovely.’
The rill replaced a row of eight ornamental pear trees which, after 16 years, had grown too big, obscuring views and casting shade — so Alan ‘bit the bullet’ and chopped them down.
Alan has always loved the neatness of rills — shallow channels of water cut into soil. His own makes a soothing, burbling sound
Hedge over hills
Alan’s first job was as an apprentice with Ilkley parks department, and his training left him with a fondness for neatness, trimmed edges, balance and symmetry.
The neatly clipped hedges and straight lines produce glorious vistas and views to distant points.
A garden, he explains, is always ‘a work in progress’.
Alan’s first job was as an apprentice with Ilkley parks department, and his training left him with a fondness for neatness, trimmed edges, balance and symmetry
Perfect spot for a picnic
‘Everything I’ve loved from a lifetime spent in gardens can be found here: a perfect spot for summertime picnics,’ says Alan.
He admits that he doesn’t spend enough time sitting down and simply enjoying his garden — there is always a weed to be pulled up or a flower to examine.
‘But to sit at a table among the flowers, gazing down a vista, or at a well-planted bed or border, is one of life’s greatest joys.’
‘Everything I’ve loved from a lifetime spent in gardens can be found here: a perfect spot for summertime picnics,’ says Alan
Billowing blooms
Rather than safe, soft pastels, Alan plants flowerbeds with a mixture of colours from border perennials, flowering shrubs, roses and trees: ‘They cheer me up,’ he says.
The terrace and lawns around the house are formal in shape, but he plants the beds in ‘a billowing mass, the informal planting softening the formal geometry’.
His greatest delight is watching the meadow (adjacent to a birch grove) change through the seasons, with cowslips in April, through to marjoram and field scabious in summer
Alan’s really wild show
Alan’s wildflower meadow is ‘one part of my garden I prize more than all the others’.
Buying an extra two acres, he sowed a wildflower mixture by hand.
At the centre of the circular lawn is a pond with a cheaper copy of a sculpture at Kew Gardens, Winged Boy With Dolphin
Now, his greatest delight is watching the meadow (adjacent to a birch grove) change through the seasons, with cowslips in April, through to marjoram and field scabious in summer.
His grandchildren love to run along the paths.
A nod to Kew
At the centre of the circular lawn is a pond with a cheaper copy of a sculpture at Kew Gardens, Winged Boy With Dolphin, by the Italian Renaissance artist Andrea del Verrocchio.
It reminds Alan of Kew, where he once worked.
The fountain is switched off at night as Alan’s wife says the sound of running water keeps her awake — it comes on again at 7am.
Picture research: Sue Connolly