Having started gardening in lockdown, Jason Williams gained a large social media following for his Cloud Garden on his eighteenth-floor balcony in Manchester. He is known for gardening at dizzying heights and for being open and honest about his mental health struggles and how gardening has helped him. His sunny disposition and willingness to experiment have certainly helped him make waves in the horticulture industry: last week he won social media communicator of the year at the Garden Media Guild Awards.
Before the pandemic, Jason worked in hospitality management. While lockdowns kept bars and restaurants closed for months on end, Jason turned to gardening, which has led him down a new and unexpected career path. “If you’d told me two years ago that this would be my life, I would’ve laughed,” he tells me.
I chatted to Jason shortly after he finished his latest project designing three balcony gardens in Croydon for Legal & General, and the day after he went to see the Sugababes live in concert. “I’m just living my millennial best life” he said, laughing.
When asked what attracted him to the project he told me “I saw the word Croydon and as that’s where I’m from it just felt like a full-circle moment to come back home.” The Fold, owned and managed by Legal & General, is part of a new housing development in south London which allows renters more autonomy over their space - from being pet-friendly to allowing tenants to paint the walls. Every flat also comes with a balcony, which is where Jason comes in, “you see a lot of unused space in apartment blocks like this and I wanted to show people how they could change that.”
When it came to designing the balconies, Jason wanted to use three distinct styles that would showcase to residents how diverse balcony gardens can be. In the Minimal Garden, low-maintenance plants and evergreens have been used. From miscanthus to cordylines and self-irrigating planters, this balcony focuses on looking after itself. “I wanted the planting to frame the city view” he explains “without too much effort from the owner.”
His second design, the Cosy Garden, has a potager feel to it - with fruit, veg and ornamentals all mixed in together. By using dwarf varieties, the Cosy Garden demonstrates that even with a small space you’re capable of growing your own food - there are herbs, a grape vine and even an apple tree incorporated into the design. A cocoon chair and solar-powered lights complete the space and make it an extra room for day and night-time use.
Finally, the Urban Jungle garden takes inspiration from Jason’s Cirrus Garden, which won a Silver-Gilt medal at the Chelsea Flower Show earlier this year. It is bright and colourful and uses tonnes of perennial plants, including coreopsis, rudbeckia and delphiniums.
When asked about whether he’ll be returning to Chelsea next year, Jason wavers in his answer. “I’m in two minds,” he says, “it’s very time consuming so I need to work out whether this story is best told through show gardens or through other avenues.”
It’s been a challenge for Jason joining a new industry, but exciting too. “There was nothing out there for me when I started trying to learn about my space” he says “so for me this is about actually helping people and having the opportunity to show people what they can do with their own gardens.”
You can find Jason on Instagram @cloudgardeneruk and Twitter @CloudGardenerUK.
