Meet Clare Matterson, the new Director General of the RHS

Where did your love of gardening come from?

My earliest memories of serious gardening were with my grandfather when I was five or six years old. A steel worker in Consett, Co. Durham, he lived on a council estate and grew prize leeks and chrysanthemums for pleasure, away from his really physically tough job. He grew rows and rows of them; I remember that sense of nurture and growth. I loved going out there with him, I can remember just... breathing. Deep down he was a kind of horticultural scientist: he had different beds going and would try different things even though he had no background or experience. He was probably an original citizen scientist.

When did you start growing plants for yourself?

When I lived with my parents I had lots of indoor plants that I loved looking after – my tradescantia did particularly well. In my first flat in Brixton, London I had a tiny north-facing garden and grew lots of things in pots, trying to work out what would survive and I got excited by growing herbs for cooking. Then in Herne Hill, London I had a small garden and an enormous flowering cherry tree – it was far too big but so beautiful in blossom. Now I’m in Suffolk I’m blessed with a big garden and am an avid vegetable grower.

What veg are you growing this year?

I’ve been experimenting with lots of different types of squash. You can store them for ages – we ate the final butternut squash from my 2021 harvest at the end of April. I love growing tomatoes, too, because there’s nothing like that smell when you’re doing the pricking out, it just triggers good memories. I’ve still got jars of passata from last year’s harvest. I try to grow most things from seed. I’m a big kale grower, and I put an asparagus bed in a couple of years ago. I had a few asparagus stalks this year and I’m hoping for more next year. Raspberries and strawberries are on the go and looking great, the onions are in, lots of potatoes. You name it, I’ll give it a go.

A haul of harvested vegetables from Clare’s Suffolk garden

Do you grow prize vegetables like grandad?

No – I just like to eat them because they taste so good. What I really love is bringing a big harvest into the house and posting photos of them (above) on Instagram and sharing the excess with friends. Where I live we’re currently planting up a community garden full of raised beds next to the village hall. Lots of families are involved, so hopefully it’ll give us all ideas about what to grow and how to grow them. Even though we’re in the countryside, children can still be quite vague about where food comes from, so it’s a lovely opportunity for learning as well as meeting people.

You’re describing many ways to connect with gardening

When I co-founded the Wellcome Collection we thought about how to attract people not just from the sciences, but also the humanities and arts. And I think that’s what’s so special about gardening – you need all those ingredients to make a great garden. Understanding planting and plant science is important, but you also need the art, drama and beauty. The joy is when you get that real amalgam of people coming together who have different ways of thinking to create extraordinary things together.

Were you involved in the gardens at the Natural History Museum?

Very much so. I was leading a project called The Urban Nature Project. The NHM has five acres of gardens which will be transformed to tell the story of life on earth and change over time. Highlights will be a geological wall, a Jurassic garden complete with a Diplodocus dinosaur in bronze. Plus the existing wildlife garden will be doubled with a new learning centre and pond so children can enjoy pond dipping.

The NHM scientists have done baseline biodiversity monitoring to monitor change over time and share that data with other urban nature gardens across the UK. As part of this we talked to children and they told us they want their parents to get off their phones and spend more time with them. They want that ‘me time’.

What attracted you to the role of Director General at the RHS?

For me, gardening brings together so many things that I feel passionate about. Gardens are a nexus for community, creativity, beauty, science, learning, expertise and more – a really broad canvas from which to reach people. We’ve all been though such a lot over the past few years, yet one thing we’ve learned is that gardens nurture us as much as we nurture them. So whether it’s about the challenge of our changing climate or biodiversity loss, creating spaces to feel restored, or growing your own veg – gardens are key. The RHS has such potential for good, this was a job that I could not resist.