Profile
After training in commercial horticulture and working as a head gardener in South Devon, Tom went on to train and work at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. During his time there, he won a scholarship to study wildflower communities in the south-eastern United States where he spent 10 weeks knee deep in bogs being attacked by various forms of wildlife.
Surviving this, compelled him to study plant habitats in countries such as Spain, Australia and Indonesia where he was often made to eat various forms of wildlife. The payoff was a clear understanding of how plant communities co-exist harmoniously and is often reflected in Tom's exciting planting schemes frequently results in gardens requiring minimal aftercare. Tom likes his gardens to sit comfortably within the surrounding environment.
Rural views are reflected in the garden, formal schemes marry well with the architecture and he always finds room for nature in all his town gardens. This often leads to the use of natural materials such as sustainable wood and locally sourced or reclaimed stone.
Tom is very keen on the modern Land Art movement and finds it works well with large rural gardens. Town gardens and courtyards often contain Moorish or Renaissance influences; obvious in his recent 2007 Hampton Court show garden which won him a gold medal. The previous year also won him a gold medal for his Land Art influenced garden.
He is a regular contributor to Country Living magazine and has written in the past for Grand Designs and Gardens Illustrated. Television and radio appearances include BBC2's The Ship, Dream Cottage and Radio 4's Science at Sea.
In his spare time, Tom sits on a panel at Kew that identifies and helps preserve the UK's heritage apple varieties from extinction resulting in more than 45 rare fruit trees dominating his walled garden in rural Suffolk - much to his wife and 4 children's dismay.