GARDENING TALENT
Tayshan Hayden-Smith
Garden activist Tayshan is the driving force behind one of the legacy gardens at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show
“It was only after the Grenfell Tower fire that I began to realise the social and environmental impacts of nature”
Earliest gardening memory With my late mother in our small garden in North Kensington. I had impulsively bought a baby banana tree with my full budget of £5 at my school summer fair, and I distinctly remember my mum jokingly saying, “Well, where do you expect me to put this?” The banana tree still stands proud at my mum’s place in a pot in the sunny corner of the garden.
Who has inspired your career? My mother; her teachings, love and way of life put me in good stead to embark on the journey that has been set out for me.
You haven’t always gardened Gardening, as a career, is definitely a change of direction for me and I am still adjusting. Growing up, you’d always find a football at my feet. My love for football was, and is, profound. I dedicated my life to football and it was only after the Grenfell Tower fire, when I turned to community guerilla gardening to heal, that I began to realise the social and environmental impacts of nature. It was those experiences through trauma and tragedy that inspired my passion to demand and implement change through nature and community.
Horticultural heroes Designers Danny Clarke and Cleve West. I first met Danny at what was one of the lowest points in my life. After the Grenfell Tower fire, Danny had offered himself up to help the local community in any way he could. He’s now a good friend, colleague and mentor, as well as a fellow director to Grow2Know, the not-for-profit organisation I founded in 2019. Cleve is another hero of mine. His kindness, humility and values have always empowered me. Both Cleve and Danny are key to the garden we are creating at Chelsea, inspired by the story of 1970s black activists, the Mangrove Nine.
Favourite ‘weed’ you’re happy to have in your garden Dandelions definitely take me back to my childhood and make me reminisce on times spent outdoors. Not to mention that as I’ve grown older I’ve come to learn about the medicinal properties of the plant – that ain’t no weed!
Your guiding principles Environmental and social activism are at the core of every project. Change isn’t happening quickly enough. I’d be doing my children and future generations an injustice if I was passive and didn’t take action.
Contact contact@grow2know.org.uk
Find out more about Tayshan’s RHS Chelsea garden and read his interview in full at gardensillustrated.com