Sandy Felton talks to Diarmuid Gavin

Sandy Felton talks to Diarmuid Gavin and tries to discover the man behind the labels.

Journalists love giving Diarmuid Gavin labels - at various times throughout his career he's been described as the 'enfant terrible', 'the punk rock gardener' and the 'rock 'n roll' gardener. Labels are one thing but the man is quite another.

Spend five minutes in his presence and you realise that here is someone who cares about gardening and gardeners. When asked about the 'rock 'n roll' tag he shrugs: "I don't see myself in that light" he states emphatically. "It was always a very personal thing for me. I wanted to create gardens and I wanted to create gardens that were different. I went to college in Dublin and worked in Ireland but I had no reference point. Then I came over to the UK, did a garden at Chelsea and started working in television. So everything that has happened to me is always what I wanted to do and I suppose everything else was a by-product of that."

He admits that for him it was a case of getting better at his job, of learning and improving all the time. He doesn't really consider that through television he has had an influence on gardeners, particularly younger generations: "I never think about that and I think its important not to think about it, because it wasn’t the reason I did it. I didn't do it for, or to represent anybody else. I did it because I needed to do it and yeah other stuff happens because of that - and that's a bit odd."

Diarmuid and the media at RHS Chelsea 2005

He's brave enough to admit that some of the stuff he did in the initial years of television was not so good. "I was making mistakes in a very public way", he says, "but the desire to get better and the desire to learn your craft is a process all gardeners go through. As gardeners you never stop learning, it's an ongoing thing."

It was a design at the Royal Dublin Show, which was well received, that encouraged him to attempt his first Chelsea Flower Show in 1995. (In fact he won the Royal Dublin Society Gold Medal for garden design twice during the 90s). Then the next year after Chelsea he collided in the gardening universe with Alan Titchmarsh (who he admits has inspired him along with the likes of Beth Chatto, Ivan Hicks and Roberto Burle Marx among others) and the rest is history.

(Pictured above 'A colourful Suburban Eden' RHS Chelsea Show garden 2004 - designed by Diarmuid Gavin)

His popularity has grown, along with his unique style of contemporary garden design, with a string of television shows including 'Home Front' with Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen, BBC's 'Art of the Garden' and 'Garden School'.

It all sounds as though it was easy but it was not - he has had his share of hard times. It says a lot for his tenacity that he hung on in there and had the faith in himself not to give up. Meeting Justine, his wife, was another turning point in his life and her faith in him certainly came at a crucial time.

He explains that now he is getting older he is less obsessed about gardening style and admits that all gardens excite him: "We did a series for the BBC called 'Art of the Garden' and I realised that back then people were innovators and gardens we regard as traditional now really started off as unique and new. So I think it's looking back as much as going forward."

A standard bearer for Irish horticulture - currently having a resurgence doubtless thanks to, among other things, his highly popular show in Ireland "I Want a Garden" - he is clearly thrilled with the success of the show: It's the first time he's done television in Ireland and the No.1 rated show is going down a storm.

When asked to describe his favourite time in the garden, his eyes light up and he talks with the enthusiasm that only a gardener can about a subject dearly loved: "It's that time March into April when you realise the soil is warming up and nothing can stop the growth and all the buds coming out on the trees. In a neighbour's back garden there’s Chestnut tree and that begins to unfurl. That six weeks from Mid April to the end of May when you know you can't stop the avalanche and every time you go into the garden there is something new to look at. The garden explodes and that’s my favourite time."

It's clear that he's the darling of the female species and after our interview he happily poses for some photographs with an assortment of excited ladies. If there is something of the showman about him it has more to do with a youthful enthusiasm than any sort of arrogance. He has a refreshingly easy and, dare I say, typically warm Irish style – he laughs a lot and it's infectious.

Recently viewers have seen him outside a gardening context in 'Strictly Come Dancing' and 'Only Fools on Horses' - and yes he says he hopes to continue riding! He has a measured intelligent outlook - perhaps there is something of the 'been there, done that' complex - maybe - but one feels that here is a man at ease with himself who despite other diversions just loves gardening and yes if other things come along he’ll have a go. And why not?

He's an accomplished writer, lecturer and broadcaster and one suspects there is much to come yet. He might not consider himself the 'rock 'n roll' gardener but he has brought a lot of fun to gardening with his fresh and unstuffy style. We need a lot more of that if we are to stimulate younger generations into gardening. He has certainly reawakened that stimulus in his native Ireland with "I Want a Garden". We wish him well for future projects and hope its not too long before we see his creative talents at Chelsea once again.