My first blog post to explain who I am and how I've reached this point in my career.
Ever since I was a child, I have worked with plants. Even before I started school, I would have days going to work with my Dad, who worked in a wholesale shrub nursery called Stour Valley Nurseries in Bentley (Suffolk) doing van sales around the various garden centres and nurseries throughout East Anglia. Although not doing much work at that age, I have memories riding around in the van and enjoying multiple ice lollies from the very kind owners of the various places we visited.
When I was ten years old, my Dad then set up his own wholesale shrub nursery, Anglian Plant Supplies, supplying the same garden centres and nurseries he had known for many years. It was from this age up until I was fifteen that I helped him when I could during school holidays, earning pocket money, and learning the nuts and bolts of how to grow and look after plants in a nursery setting.
Spring flowering crocus along the grassy walk at The Beth Chatto Gardens in Elmstead Market, near Colchester
One nursery my Dad did know and supply with shrubs for many years, was the world famous Beth Chatto Gardens, in Elmstead Market just outside Colchester (Essex). It was from a chance conversation with David Ward (formerly the Garden & Nursery Director), that I was able to start a job there on Saturdays whilst I was still at school. And as I was about to leave school and after considering various horticultural college courses (none of which were truly plant based), I accepted a full-time position at Beth Chatto’s as an Apprentice Nursery Assistant.
This is where I spent the next sixteen years of my career. Starting off mainly within the propagation team, helping look after several acres of stock plants in the ground, and propagating tens of thousands of perennials by division. Working with a hugely knowledgeable team and regularly speaking and working with the great Beth Chatto, meant I had the most amazing start in a full-time role in horticulture that I could have ever wished for (although you don’t always know and appreciate that at the time!). As the years went by, I was promoted to Assistant Propagation Manager, and helped to write a detailed propagation schedule that would help the team organise and structure the work we did day-to-day. In this time, some key relationships developed, particularly with David and Emily, who’s knowledge and experience guided me, whilst also allowing me to grow personally and professionally. I owe them a lot.
The lovely Beth with myself and my newborn son in 2016
At the age of twenty four, I was given the opportunity to manage the retail nursery side of the business, helping to modernise the nursery whilst also trying to retain the unique feeling that it has. I was able to build my own hardworking team and we enjoyed many good years helping to grow the nursery. It was during this time that we started the Border Design Service, where in four years, I designed over two hundred borders for customers all over the country. I was only able to do this after learning Beth’s philosophy of ‘right plant, right place’ inside out over many years, and building up my knowledge of the thousands of different plants that we grew, to know what the various plants like, how they behave and how to put them together.
After we had experienced the lockdown, the business changed considerably with the mail order online sales of plants becoming a large part of the nursery business. And it was after a slight staff re-shuffle, that Emily and I became co-managers of the whole process, from the propagating of plants through to selling them onsite and online, managing a team in excess of twenty people. Whilst at times the volume of work was overwhelming, I never lost sight of what a special and unique place the gardens and nursery were. And even after Beth passed away, the drive and desire to continue what she had built was strong. Not only were the gardens and nursery a special and unique place, but the people were too. We were a strong and hardworking team that achieved some incredible things, and I felt I was going to spend most, if not all, of my horticultural career there.
Myself and my son walking down the grassy walk on the edge of the woodland garden at Beth's
That wasn’t to be the case though, and during a period of difficult change, I felt my only option was to move on. Knowing that nowhere else would match what we had at Beth’s, I made the decision to use what I had learnt and start my own business as The Plans & Plants Man. I now offer garden consultations, bespoke hand-drawn planting plans, the sourcing and delivering of plants and planting borders up. After nearly a year of being in business, I have found it to be very different, yet very rewarding. I really enjoy being able to help bring people’s gardens to life but doing it in a sustainable way that hopefully means people, and wildlife, can reap the benefits that plants, and nature can bring for years to come.
Where I am today, and what I am able to do today, is the result of years and years of hard work and learning. Without the influence of my Dad, Beth, David, Emily and countless others in horticulture, I wouldn’t have the skill set to do what I can offer now. So if you are considering developing or bringing your garden to life, get in touch and take advantage of the knowledge and experience that can be shared to benefit your own outside space.
Thanks for reading,
Jacob
Beautiful frosted seedheads of Cephalaria gigantea
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