The colourful garden designer on her Damascene conversion to gardening, her trepidation over TV presenting and why she wants to encourage visitors to picnic in her show gardens <\/p>

When I got to New Zealand, a switch just flipped in me and I fell suddenly, wallopingly, in love with Nature. <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
At the end of the trip she signed up for the garden design course<\/a> at Capel Manor College. \u201cIt was great,\u201d she says. \u201cWe had 20 acres of grounds with proper demonstration gardens and, unlike a lot of courses, Capel Manor taught hard landscaping, which I absolutely loved. I don\u2019t know if I still can, but back in the day I could lay a very serviceable patio all by myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
She graduated with Distinction, and then went to Tendercare Nurseries, to consolidate her plant knowledge. \u201cThe co-owner, Angela Halksworth (a very glamorous and forthcoming woman), let me stage plant combinations near the office, just picking a bunch of pots I thought looked good together, and customers would come up and buy the whole lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
She was surrounded by plants all day, and in the evenings tuned in to a new television programme called Garden Doctors<\/em> (presented by a lovely young man called Dan Pearson<\/a>), which was taking Channel 4 by storm. \u201cI loved everything about that programme. It showed how, as a gardener, you can enhance people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
And then a fax arrived in the office, scouting for new presenters for Garden Doctors<\/em>. \u201cI flatly refused to apply, but Angela put me in for it without saying anything. I got one heck of a shock when the production company called me in for a try out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite huge misgivings about the whole venture, on the morning of the audition she knew she didn\u2019t want to dress \u201clike a gardener\u201d, so she borrowed an Armani suit from her boyfriend\u2019s mother, and stopped off at a pub near Spitalfields for a spot of Dutch courage. \u201cIt was the strangest thing. I really didn\u2019t want to go for it, then all of a sudden I knew I desperately wanted the job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Needless to say, the producers snapped her up, and she was thrown in at the deep end. \u201cIt was real hard graft all day long, then in the evenings I would go home and research endlessly. It was a baptism of fire, but an amazing chance to learn on the job and build my portfolio.\u201d<\/p>\n
By chance, Ann-Marie had hit the sweet spot for television gardening, and she went from Garden Doctors<\/em> to Real Gardens<\/em> with Carol Klein and Monty Don<\/a>, then Lost Gardens<\/em> (also with Monty), and Take Three Gardeners<\/em>, with Joe Swift and Cleve West.<\/a> \u201cWe were all totally on the same wavelength, determined to make properly good gardens for people, not take short cuts for the telly.\u201d<\/p>\n

We were all totally on the same wavelength, determined to make properly good gardens for people, not take short cuts for the telly. <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
It was fun, but also extremely hard work. Ann-Marie once filmed for 53 consecutive days, so when she found she was expecting her first child, it was the ideal excuse to step away from the small screen and go back to her drawing board.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I set up the design practice, my first client had such a massive garden I couldn\u2019t fit the plan on a single sheet of paper. I was petrified, but also unbelievably excited. I must have done a reasonable job because 15 years later I\u2019m still working for the same client.\u201d<\/p>\n
These days a raft of private and corporate clients are attracted by her unique combination of technically impeccable hard landscaping and wildly colourful and inventive planting. The private clients often ask her to sign a privacy agreement but, fortunately for the rest of us, she has also designed a number of high-profile show gardens and has a shelf full of medals to prove it. In 2020 she created the Greening Grey Britain garden for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show<\/a>. It was vintage Powell, full of crazy colour, cleverly steal-able design ideas and \u2013 most unusually for a Chelsea show garden \u2013 people. \u201cI absolutely insisted that visitors should be able to walk through it. I wanted them to be able to have a close look, to sit down and eat their lunch.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really believe, as the landscape architect Thomas Church said, that gardens are for people and as a designer I can open their eyes to a wonderful pleasure that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Useful information <\/strong><\/p>\n
Ann-Marie Powell Gardens, Lower Cowgrove, Heath Farm, Heath Road East Petersfield, Hampshire GU31 4HT. Tel<\/strong> 01730 825650, ann-mariepowell.com<\/a><\/p>\n
Read more on Ann-Marie Powell\u2019s own garden<\/a><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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