Celebrity

When our jewellery business went into receivership we avoided bankruptcy by selling our houses and possessions.

I was a sickly child, and it wasn't until I was 19 that I realised I was quite a robust, vigorous person. Since then I've taken ill health to be an irritating interruption into what is a fairly reliable stream of good health.

The biggest obstacle to good gardening is the desire to know the answers and not the questions.

We know that gardening is good for you. It is fantastic, all-round exercise.

I have learnt that gardens are like happiness: you cannot pursue them as an absolute thing or moment.

Chickweed is regarded by most gardeners as just that - a weed - but is excellent in sandwiches or salads.

I was a sickly child, and it wasn't until I was 19 that I realised I was quite a robust, vigorous person. Since then I've taken ill health to be an irritating interruption into what is a fairly reliable stream of good health.

Daffodils, blossom and tulips jostle to the front of the stage in April. I love these early perennials: they may be more modest but they nearly all have that one special quality that a plant needs to transform your affections from admiration to affection - charm.

Chickweed is regarded by most gardeners as just that - a weed - but is excellent in sandwiches or salads.

I have always felt that the best gardens aspired to coppice and that the best woods have all the elements of the very best gardens.

I always see gardening as escape, as peace really. If you are angry or troubled, nothing provides the same solace as nurturing the soil.

I love high summer as well, but nothing beats a perfect May morning.

There is a British assumption that you mustn't speak evil of anyone's garden because it is rude - it is like criticising their home, their children or their pets.

Plant breeding has been going on for millennia and it's a gradual process.

Woods are rich with biodiversity and, above all, places of trees and light that spangles a thousand greens through the leaves.

I think we put far too much interest in trying to get ten to 20 year olds interested in gardening. I think you should do everything you can to try and get them interested up to the age of 10.

You can trace the entire history of Britain by looking at gardens.

Any British household with a scrap of land has always grown herbs for the kitchen. From the superb monastic herb gardens down to the humblest cottage, a supply of fresh herbs would have been considered essential.

The key to our oldest woodland is that it has been cut down and regrown, in some cases as often as 50 or 60 times. It is one of the most perfectly sustainable resources and ecosystems known to man.

When you plant something, you invest in a beautiful future amidst a stressful, chaotic and, at times, downright appalling world.