A good eye is all you need, says TV garden designer

Gardeners' World presenter Rachel de Thame has provoked the ire of the horticultural world on the eve of her Chelsea Flower Show debut by claiming professional training is no substitute for "a good eye".

The TV personality turned professional gardener, who has had no formal training in garden design, is building one of the 44 main gardens at this year's Royal Horticulture Society showpiece.

Her views have been labelled "ludicrous" by established designers after she said it was more important for gardeners to have "a strong feeling" about how their creations should look.

Ms de Thame, 46, told Horticulture Week: "Either you have an idea about how things should look as regards proportion and shape or you don't.

"I do feel it would have been nice to understand the technical aspects of the build side of it. But, aesthetically, I do not particularly rate it as the most important thing. It is something that can be coaxed out but really it is innate.

"It's very important for people who design gardens that they have a strong feeling about how they should look. And I have a strong idea of how I want it to look."

Ms de Thame's garden at Chelsea features shrub roses, peonies and irises and combines "strong contemporary design with softness and opulence in the planting, capturing the cheerful look of an English country garden within an urban setting".

She added: "I haven't been formally trained in garden design, though I've been designing gardens unwittingly for ages through Gardeners' World. "I have a knowledge gap having not trained formally, though I did do two years' study [in practical horticulture and plants]."

Society of Garden Designers chairman Peter Thomas has attacked de Thame's comments. He said: "She's saying there is no reason for choosing someone trained as a garden designer ahead of someone not trained in garden design. It's a ludicrous comment.

"A professional working in any creative industry benefits from having a good eye but if having a good eye was the sole criterion of being a garden designer there would not be the vast number of garden design courses on offer."

He added: "Although I have a good eye that doesn't make me a good furniture designer. It's a ludicrous idea that you can design a garden without specialist knowledge and understanding of the material required."

Dr Steve Dowbiggin, of specialist landscaping centre Capel Manor College, said award-winning unqualified garden designers were "few and far between".