Carol Klein
Carol Ann Klein VMH (born 24 June 1945) is an English gardener, plantswoman, art teacher, television presenter, journalist, newspaper columnist, and author of several books. Her 2007 book Grow Your Own Veg sold more than 250,000 copies. The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) awarded her six gold medals at the annual Chelsea Flower Show and in 2018 the Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH).
 |
This article on an author is a stub. You can help out with Wikiquote by expanding it! |
Quotes
[edit]- A garden is a place to enjoy and indulge in, something you can love, somewhere you can nurture. It stimulates all the senses, and its very unpredictability gives it a vitality not often encountered in our contrived and controlled world. My plot is on a south-west-facing slope about 150m above sea level in north Devon, in a lull between Exmoor and Dartmoor. The soil is heavy clay, ochre and grey at its worst, with random streaks of shale, known locally as shillet. There are trees wrapped around one side of it and a seriously overgrown hedge, up to 18m tall and counting, whose fallen leaves have gradually changed the soil beneath to acid leaf-mould. All the garden lies in front of the house and is bisected by a track that joins the cottage to the outside world - or is it the other way around? For such a small plot, less than an acre, there is a huge diversity of conditions, from sunny and Mediterranean to murky shade, enabling us to grow a wide range of plants. We cultivate vegetables and some fruit, too.
- The garden at Ashwood Nurseries is wonderful and John Massey is a brilliant bloke. Great Dixter, naturally, but also Marchants Hardy Plants. I’ve known [founder] Graham Gough ever since he was working with Elizabeth Strangman, who is one of my all-time heroines. I love the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh – I love everything about it, but particularly its overall attitude. It’s incredibly welcoming and it involves not just visitors from elsewhere but everybody in the city. It has real energy.
- as quoted by Veronica Peerless in: (October 10, 2024) "TV Gardener Carol Klein On Her Life To Date And What Comes Next. Gardener, television presenter and author Carol Klein talks about her new book, the books she loves, her current challenges and what she’s up to next". Gardens Illustrated. (Carol Klein's answer to the interview question: "Do you have a favourite garden or landscape to visit?")
Quotes about Carol Klein
[edit]- In 1978, she and her husband Neil (who sounds completely splendid) settled in Devon and bought Glebe Cottage, which came with an acre of rough grass, weeds and brambles. Creating a garden there, the first proper one she’d ever had, transformed her life. ‘As much as I made this garden, this garden made me,’ she writes.
She discovered she had a knack for propagating plants and started selling them at country markets before creating her own nursery, while also raising her two daughters. Soon she began exhibiting at RHS shows and then was asked to design a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show.
Before long, a TV producer spotted her potential and she got a job presenting the Channel Four show Real Gardens.
Klein first appeared on Gardeners’ World in 1989 when the late, great Geoff Hamilton did a feature on Glebe Cottage.- Constance Craig Smith, "Hortobiography by Carol Klein: The day I hit the BBC's 'grass-ceiling'. Constance Craig Smith reviews horticulturist and TV presenter Carol Klein's new memoir". The Daily Mail.
External links
[edit]
Encyclopedic article on Carol Klein on Wikipedia- (April 12, 2025) "Great British Gardens with Carol Klein | The COMPLETE Series - 8 Hour Compilation". Luxury Living, YouTube.
