George Plumptre

I have been writing about gardens since the late-1970s (which I think means that only Alan Titchmarsh is ahead of me in the Garden Collective team and we all bow to AT). During that time I have written for numerous publications, in particular The Times of which I was gardening correspondent in the 1990s and Country Life. I have written a number of books and visited many hundreds of gardens, most recently during my 15 years as Chief Executive of the National Garden Scheme.

Almost inevitably this work has been on the basis of being commissioned to write something specific – and this is where the Garden Collective is refreshingly different. We all write about what moves us on the day; sometimes it is a subject we approach with long-held knowledge, sometimes it can be a whim, prompted by something we have heard or experienced out there on the gardening savannah.

This freedom is very exciting and, I think, brings a freshness to our writing which you don’t find elsewhere. At the same time, recording audio of every article is a fantastic discipline; I wish I had always done it.

After such a long career I like to think I can turn my hand to most things, but if I have to pick out particular passions they would be garden history, design as well as specific gardens and the people who create them. Some of my colleagues overlap, others major on different subjects and for me, the range of our output from week to week is what our audience particularly love and is what makes it worth signing up and joining our vibrant community.

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