I saw from my TV guide that Alan Titchmarsh has begun another series of his programme How to be a Gardener and I began thinking about the terms that are used to describe people in the plant world.

Alan Titchmarsh almost certainly includes himself in the category of gardener, but what about those people who are described as a plantsman', grower', horticulturalist', or plant collector' - are they somehow different?

Well yes, I think they are. You may disagree, but I think of a plantsman or plants-woman (or plantsperson) as someone who is interested in plants mostly for their own sake. Plantspeople are usually very knowledgeable about the names of plants, their families and their country of origin, and their gardens are stuffed full of interesting plants that many of us have never heard of, let alone grown. A plantsman is an invaluable companion when visiting other gardens because they can name all those unusual plants that you don't recognise.

Grower is a term that used to apply exclusively to nurserymen, who specialised in growing plants or crops for sale. Nowadays this term is also applied to those of us who grow specialised collections of plants - like orchids, alpines, fruit or vegetables. The fascination is with the process of growing a group of plants to perfection, by knowing the exact requirements of each individual plant.

Plant collectors are like this too. I don't mean collectors in the sense that they go to Tibet or Borneo to collect plants from the wild, but those that are interested in a particular group of plants who try to grow as complete a collection of them as possible. Collectors need to have one each of all the species or varieties of that particular plant or plant group, the collection as a whole is the valuable thing.

Horticulturalist is really just a posh name for gardener, and a gardener is what? A person who tends a garden' is the definition in my dictionary. It's someone who is interested in the process of looking after the whole garden; growing plants well so that they look good as part of a bigger picture. Gardeners care about the structure of the soil, about matters such as watering, mulching, pruning, mowing, composting and hedge-clipping.

To a gardener there is just as much pleasure in the process of gardening as in the collection or production of good plants.

I don't set much store by the distinction between professional and amateur gardener, except that the former is one who is paid for their gardening. I have met plenty of amateur' gardeners who are just as skilful as any professional - though it is true though that you really have to love the art of gardening to want to make it your profession.

February 13, 2003 11:00