An interview with Phillippa Probert

Two months after graduating from the Welsh College of Horticulture, Phillippa Probert was on her hands and knees putting together her first show garden.

That first garden at RHS Tatton Park won her a Bronze for ‘Simply Stylish’ and a year later she was back at Tatton with ‘Crimson Crush’, a stunningly stylish garden for which she was justly rewarded with Gold. Last year, the Cheshire based young designer was back once again with another exotic show garden – ‘Forest Fusion’ (Silver Gilt), so it was no surprise to learn from Phillippa that she now had her sights on a Chelsea debut.

She admits that she has always wanted to be a designer and run her own business. Frequent visits to National Trust houses as a child inspired her to draw, photograph, paint and sketch landscapes and flowers so from an early age she was drawn to gardens and their design.

For Phillippa, garden design really combines all of her favourite hobbies and she admits to being very excited at starting out on her own as a designer: “I was so excited at the beginning starting out on my own. The exhilaration of starting up a business and really seeing my designs get constructed was wonderful. I am in my third year now and I am enjoying it even more – which I thought was impossible! I am so passionate about my work and feel so lucky to have the opportunity to work for myself.”

Her first show garden at Tatton in 2005 was certainly a sharp learning curve: “Wow what an experience. I was one month out of college and found myself with a garden to fund, organize and build for an RHS show. It was a huge learning curve but one I grabbed with both hands. Virtually everything went wrong, but we managed to finish with about ten minutes to spare! I was amazed to receive a Bronze medal and it was a wonderful achievement for me at 21 to have been selected for the show, let alone receive a medal.”

Phillippa came back the following year with another garden to show that she had indeed taken on board all the advice and comments from her first show garden. She admits that all she wanted was to progress to the next level and was totally “Gob Smacked” as she puts it when Crimson Crush won a that precious Gold.

Ideas for new designs tend to come when she is breaking down her latest show garden: “I’ve had some great ideas but couldn’t fit them into a ‘Back to Back’ category. It was obvious that I would have to design a larger garden and so for Tatton 2007 that’s what I did.” Stressful and tiring it may have been but Phillippa admits she loved every minute of it.

Contemporary design is Phillippa’s favourite style and she prefers to create something that has not been done before. She particularly likes working with trees, especially something as bold and architectural as a Dicksonia tree fern: “I’m a sucker for the perennials. I love the usual, beautiful and attractive flower heads; Agapanthus, Knautia, Papaver. But also Euphorbias and Heucheras for the foliage, Ornamental Grasses are also commonly used in my designs. My favourite perennial is Echinacea and I love the gorgeous colours available.”

Favourite designers include Andy Sturgeon and Diarmuid Gavin, but she also admires the planting styles of Gertrude Jekyll: “The first garden design book I ever bought was written by John Brookes, and I have bought many more of his books since. My current favourite feature is the vertical garden, a living wall and also living roofs.”

Her garden for Chelsea will be in the new ‘urban garden’ category and is called ‘Green Living.’ This garden uses features such as a green roof and living walls to disguise urban surroundings. The garden floor will consist of long, thin paved stepping stones that appear to float on water with lush foilage and attractive flower heads emerging from the pool. Jets in the water will add further interest as does wooden panelling on the back wall which has a row of photographs scanned onto tiles.

Not content with her Chelsea debut, Phillippa is also designing another two gardens for RHS Tatton this year. The first, which will be a back to back garden called ‘Time Out’, is a plant lovers retreat, a place to sit and be surrounded by wonderful colours and flowers. The second is a show garden called ‘Aqualife’ which will be a demonstration of how natural water features can be incorporated into modern design.

I am always full of admiration for young designers like Phillippa; it takes a special type of courage to design, fund and construct a show garden and getting sponsorship is never easy. Her Chelsea garden is a typical example for as yet she still does not have a sponsor: “I love putting together plans for a show garden and managing the project and as a designer I have plenty of ideas for my gardens but always need someone to back the design. The shows are a fantastic way for businesses to promote their materials, products and even to collect data. There are still opportunities for businesses to get involved in any of this year’s projects, with Chelsea fast approaching.”

If, on reading this, you wish to be involved and could sponsor one of the UK’s emerging talents, you can visit www.chelsea2008-greenliving.org.uk or www.outerspaces.org.uk to learn more about Phillippa’s work.

This bubbly, energetic and hard working young designer deserves support and hopefully sponsorship will be forthcoming. The Reckless team wish her every success for Chelsea and have the sneaking feeling that she will make more than a good impression on her debut at the world’s most prestigious flower show.