Say hello to Graham , generator of more than 20 gardening books , including the American Horticultural Society’sEncyclopedia of Perennials , one of the most frequented Scripture in my gardening program library . The cyclopaedia is comprehensive , enlightening , and lavishly illustrate , as you ’d require … but it ’s also delightfully opinionative and fun , as you would n’t .
The surprising amount of personality operate here is really no surprisal , given that Graham , a transplanted Brit , also moonlights as a DJ for Radio Catskill . He describes hisBritMixshow as an eclectic blend of “ the weird and the wonderful , the sparky and the strange … the imperial , the quirky ; the catchy and , occasionally , the almost uncomprehensible . ” go VERY MUCH like my garden .
Q : When you graduate from the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew , did you gestate to make your living as a nurseryman … or as a writer ? How did the writing happen ?
A : When I was 12 , I wanted to be sports writer , but as I got interested in plant , both the sportsman and the authorship all went torpid . When I impart Kew , I planned to analyse plant taxonomy . But that misfire , so I set out to write a few pieces , and it went from there . Q : How did you become the “ Transatlantic Gardener , ” which is the name of yourblog , gardening in two place ?
A : I married an American . In 1997 , garden author and lensman judywhite , who was managing editor of Time Warner ’s Virtual Garden web site , hired me to be part of the first - ever online coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show . When we met at the show , my life commute , and we now spend most of our time in northeast Pennsylvania , with a cottage in Northamptonshire in England . I do n’t garden much in England . We ’re not there enough , so a Quaker who run a floristry business sector uses the garden to spring up cut flowers .
Q : When I was a beginning nurseryman , I was very invigorate by picture of British garden . But the accuracy is we do n’t have the same idyllic conditions for perennials here in the US , with the possible exception of the Pacific Northwest . Do you publish other than for American audiences ? Do you garden otherwise in the US ?
A : The climate is so different in the US from the UK , I had to learn how to garden here in Pennsylvania – and also to realize that have intercourse how to gardenheredidn’t mean I knew how to garden anywhere else in the nation .
I came back from England recently , where the Narcissus pseudonarcissus were in full flower and the snowdrops finished . Here , the daffs are just peep through the snowy soil and the snowdrops just spread . Then there are all the crotchet of vocabulary and phraseology to deal out with , and Britain only uses metric measurements .
But today ’s economics of Bible publishing limit that most garden books are published in just one edition that has to endeavor to suit everyone , including gardeners in Australia and South Africa . So I ’m very pleased that myEncyclopedia of Perennialsis write in both an American version and a separate British variant .
Q : What are the differences between the US and British editions ofthe Encyclopedia of Perennials ?
A : While many of the 6,800 plant admit are the same , of course , some are dissimilar . The pick of daylilies , for case , is very different in the two edition : Daylilies are far less democratic in Britain , and older , taller and small - flowered miscellany are far more widely grown than they are in North America .
The cultural advice is also appropriate to each variation . Being a transatlantic nurseryman was a great help in elaborate the choices for the two editions .
Q : What are you working on now ?
A : I’m just work on the proofs for my next Good Book , Planting the Dry Shade Garden , which gives advice on how to make the toughest spot in the garden more hospitable to plants and also recommends a wide cooking stove of plant that will thrive in those difficult conditions . That will be out in August from Timber Press .
Q : How does The BritMix fit into all of this ?
A : I need to do something totally different from gardening . So I have a hebdomadary public wireless show on WJFF , which serves the Catskills and northeast Pennsylvania . I represent British music from the 1960s up to the late releases , including creative person who are comparatively unfamiliar to American audience . I have fairly eclectic discernment , so the show covers careen , punk , traditional folk , British blue devil , singer - songwriters , reggae even a footling jazz and contemporary styles like folktronica and dubstep . But it ’s all British .
There are so many British acts that ought to be well know over here , so it work very well . But music by the great unwashed whose prime intent is to become pop stars is usually disqualify from inclusion !
Q : Name your favorite unsung ring that we might catch on BritMix .
A : The Unthanks and Imagined Village are taking traditional folk music in altogether Modern directions . No one here seems to recognize the punk poet / vocalist from the 1970s Patrik Fitzgerald . Cherry Ghost combine energy , flair , intensity and great lyric , and for intense energy , the Fratellis and The Wombats are really exciting .
Q : You ’ve written more than 20 books . How do you keep it impertinent ?
A : When I was on the staff of a horticulture magazine years ago , we had a famous British garden writer working for us , and every calendar month she would call up and ask for ideas for her chromatography column . To me , that was a sure polarity she should have been doing something else .
There ’s never a shortage of things to write about . go back and off across the Atlantic certainly helps . Just looking down from the plane as I approach the airport spark tonic thinking about the instinctive world . With new plants , the unexpected ways in which plant behave , young ideas on using plants – plus important issue like found aborigine and dealing with invasives – I always have estimate .
In fact , make idea is the easy part . It ’s more difficult to foot the best ideas to die hard with .
