We had the pleasure of speaking with Garden Designer and TV Presenter Danny Clarke , also known asThe Black Gardener .
Danny is the Director ofGrow2Know , a not - for - profits establishment go down up by CEOTayshan Hayden - Smiththat get to get young people from disadvantaged community involve with gardening and horticulture .
From chatting with Danny , it ’s clear how passionate he is about this project , which he claims , to his delight , is slow start to take up more and more of his prison term .
He also forge on shows such asLove Your GardenandFilthy Garden SOS , having antecedently presented coverage of RHS Chelsea and Tatton Flower shows on the BBC .
Read on to discover more about Danny and his unbelievable vocation in his own word .
Where Did Your Journey With Gardening & The Great Outdoors Begin?
“ It all pop , I retrieve , from my childhood , ” he said . “ I was always out of doors in nature . My early years were spent outdoors , I was hardly ever inside .
“ When I dumbfound my own garden , it evoked memories of my childhood . I call up my dad once read to me to go out in the garden and feel him a four - leaf clover – we make out how rare they are .
“ When I reckon at the trefoil in my own garden , I remembered what my dad suppose . I did n’t really know a plant from a weed when I first had my own space , but I found myself relish being out of doors because it was a link to my past .
“ When we have that linkup to our past , especially of well-chosen memories , it ’s quite cheering . Before I make love it , I just desire to be in the garden all the time and it just became a real pleasure . ”
When Did You First Decide To Work In The Horticulture Industry?
“ I did n’t of a sudden become a gardener , it was footling step first , ” Danny shares .
“ Back in the 90s , I mould in sale and had my own business . One day , I got a earphone call from a lady who desire me to mould for her in her garden .
“ I agreed to work for her for one day a calendar week . I had no aim of being a gardener , it was just to bring a bit of money in and put intellectual nourishment on the table .
“ What she did n’t be intimate about garden , you could put on the back of a stamp stamp . She taught me that there ’s looker in everything if you opt to rule it , and that just entirely transfer my frame of mind .
“ She became my mentor , and during the 3 years I spent with her before her dying , people would approach me , offering me other gardening work . It finally became a no - brainer and I turned to horticulture as a proper means of pull in money . ”
She Clearly Had A Big Influence On You…
“ If I had n’t known her , I would n’t be here talking to you . ”
Danny had many stories to tell about the womanhood that first rent him , but one story stuck out in special .
“ At the Chelsea Flower Show last yr , we had a raft of medium attention , ” he share .
“ I was doing a radio consultation , talking about how this fair sex became a mentor to me . When the audience was over , I turned around and saw her daughter , who I had n’t learn since she had passed away all those yr ago .
“ It was a really emotional moment and it meant a lot to me that her daughter heard all the amazing things I had to say about her mama .
“ Like I say , I would not be on this journey if it was n’t for her . ”
Can You Tell Us More About Your Journey With Grow2Know?
“ I cope with the CEO of Grow2Know Tayshan Hayden - Smith soon after the Grenfell flack , ” says Danny .
“ He turned to guerilla horticulture as a way of healing . He would ascertain a residential area space and pick up bedding or go and find some failing plants and nurse them back to lifetime .
“ This got him babble to the residential area and he get a good deal out of it . Shortly after , I was put in liaison with him and , in the last 6 old age , we ’ve been on this awesome journey together .
“ Tayshan wanted to promote the virtues that he got out of gardening to a wider audience , which is why Grow2Know was form . It ’s all about bringing gardening to as many hoi polloi as potential .
“ We ’re about diverseness , inclusion body and just say to whoever you are , gardening is good for you . ”
What’s Been Your Favourite Experience With Grow2Know So Far?
“ I was involve with Grow2Know in give rise a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show last year and it had a very strong content that was really well receive .
“ Last year ’s garden was paying court to the immigrants who came to this country from the West Indies in the early fifty . We were telling the storey of their bravery and the things they had to bear through the garden .
“ Our guinea pig was a restaurant called Mangrove that was possess by Frank Crichlow , who make out from Trinidad in the former L , ” explains Danny .
“ It was an awing place . Malcolm X , Mohammed Ali and Jimmy Hendrix all visited .
“ However , this restaurant was raid and brutalised by the policethroughout the 1960s-1980s for no rationality .
“ Within the confines of the premises , there were the great unwashed that would protest peacefully against this . In one of the protests , 9 people were contain and buck with causing a debauch , which , of course , they did n’t .
“ The case went to court and the Mangrove nine defended themselves and won . It was a landmark victory which caused the discriminative system to dispute the constabulary , and the ramification of this are still felt today .
“ Our garden told this chronicle . We juxtapose this ferociousness of man against world with man against nature . Mangrove tree are a safe haven for wildlife and we wanted to show that the eating place should have been the same . ”
What’s Next For Grow2Know?
“ We ’ve vex some exciting stuff coming up in the nigh future , ” Danny teased , joking that if we ’d interviewed him in a duo of weeks he ’d be able to evidence us all about it .
“ We ’ll be doing something at the Chelsea Flower Show this year . I never thought we would top what we did last year , but we are signposting a new idea for next year at this yr ’s show . ”
Can You Give Us Any Indication Of What It’s About?
“ It ’s to do with inclusivity and a lack of admittance when it come to nature for sure sections of the population , ” say Danny .
“ For some reason , nature seems to be the preserve of people who have money . We are exit to highlight that difference with this garden . ”
“ When it comes to redesigning garden , I endeavor to keep as much from the exist garden as possible , ” say Danny . “ I wreak with a place and not against it .
“ As much as I can , I attempt not to rip anything out unless it ’s necessary . I search to reuse thing . For example , if there ’s some crazy terrace that needs removing , I wo n’t just throw the tiles off , I ’ll break it up and apply it as arduous - sum .
“ It ’s taking that wit of reprocess and sustainability into my excogitation quad and working with what you ’ve got whilst enhancing it .
“ For me , it ’s also of import to speak to the client and not visit what you imagine on them . They will be capable to design the garden for you if you ask them the correct questions .
“ That garden has got to be about their personality and not about you . ”
How Do You Make The Most Out Of Nature In Your Spare Time?
“ I get my fix not only from work in other people ’s space , but I visit lots of dandy garden near me and go on lovely walkway near where I hold up .
“ A garden is your link to nature and what gives us that tranquil feeling .
“ There ’s nothing dainty than going out into an overt space and feel the nothingness on your peel , listen to the birds tweeting and smelling the scent of flush . ”
You’ve Had Such A Successful Career As A Horticulturist. Do You Have Any Career Highlights That You Are Particularly Fond Of?
“ One of my career highlighting is patently the Grow2Know material and the Chelsea Flower Show I did with them .
“ I was on The One Show last year at Buckingham Palace on behalf of the charity The Queen ’s Green Canopy , encourage people to plant tree in their garden to celebrate the Queen ’s Platinum Jubilee .
“ Being able to talk about one of my passions at Buckingham Palace was a huge high spot .
“ I was also commissioned to build a COVID garden at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital 2 year ago to say give thanks you to the nanny , doctors and stave for being at the frontline of the pandemic . That was a real honour and a immense moment for me . ”
Do You Have Any Advice For Aspiring Gardeners?
“ People often bewilder themselves up and find like they need to experience Latin names and everything about each private works , but they do n’t , ” say Danny . “ A lot of it is just instinctive . ”
“ Being fleeceable - finger is about observation . A industrial plant will tell you what it needs and what it does n’t need , and if a plant needs something , it wo n’t just die . They ’re no different from people in this way . ”
“ Do n’t look at gardening as a chore , ” he adds . “ count at it as something to be enjoyed and take a holistic approach . Just revel being in an outdoor space and be in mite with your surroundings .
“ Gardening gives you the excuse to be outside and encompass all that nature has to extend . If you ’re out in your space and spot a weed , pull it up . bit by bit build on this and you will find satisfaction from it .
“ Before you hump it , it will infiltrate into your being and it just becomes a riding habit . That is by all odds what materialize to me . ”
