With training at Beth Chatto’s and Wildegoose Nursery already under her belt, Hannah is currently an Elizabeth Hess Scholar at Tresco Abbey Gardens.
Earliest gardening memory Deadheading pelargoniums with my grandmother Daphne. Carefully being taught how to hold the scissors, and working side by side.
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First plant love Onions, which ironically I can’t eat. I became obsessed with growing a show-sized onion after visiting a local Onion Fair with competitions for giant vegetables.
Spring feels truly here when cow parsley blooms. Any umbellifer is usually welcome in my garden.
Life before gardening? I spent four years training as an apprentice coat maker at Henry Poole & Co on Savile Row and subsequently worked freelance. After years working in a basement workshop, the pull of a work life outdoors became too great to ignore.
Inspiring mentors? Jack and Laura Willgoss. I first worked at their nursery Wildegoose as a volunteer, and their passion for plants and their encouragement of me is something I will always be grateful for.
Horticultural heroes All the gardeners who show up to work on a cold January day and care for the gardens everyone else enjoys once the weather warms up.
After years working in a basement workshop, the pull of a work life outdoors became too great to ignore.
Landscape that has influenced you A journey on the train from Palma to Sóller in Mallorca aged 12, through groves of citrus, started an obsession with citrus and the Mediterranean productive landscape and its ties with the food I love making. The scent wafting through the train windows has stayed with me.
Most valuable training I have been fortunate that all my traineeships have involved propagation. At Wildegoose and Beth Chatto’s it was in equal proportion to time spent in the garden. It has been immensely useful to feel confident working with plants both ornamentally and commercially.
What direction do you see horticulture heading? A rethinking of what has historically been considered untidiness in gardens – seeing the beauty in a meadow, not the untidiness of long grass.
Best planting style Perhaps it’s not a planting ‘style’ per se, but I love it when a garden sits well within its landscape. The line between the Abbey Garden and the sea is beautifully blurred, and at Great Dixter and Wildegoose, two of my favourite gardens, the hills around seem to run directly into the garden, the landscape lending its beauty to the already breathtaking garden.
Favourite ‘weed’ Spring feels truly here when cow parsley blooms. Any umbellifer is usually welcome in my garden.
Seeing the beauty in a meadow, not the untidiness of long grass.
Instagram account to follow Our assistant head gardener Jon Taylor’s instagram @jonotaylor84. When I leave Abbey Gardens, I’ll be relying on his posts to get my Tresco fix.
Career goals? I have a particular love for Mediterranean gardens, especially those with ties to productive growing and would love to work abroad, particularly to spend more time working in Italy.
Contact moorehannahvictoria@gmail.com;
@hannahvictoriamoore; tresco.co.uk