Henry Agg will be a new face to many in horticulture, but not to his hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers. He built his profile with posts and reels on gardens and health, especially mental health, and was named as one of Gardens Illustrated's 22 Horticultural Heroes for 2024.
Henry works in high-level executive recruitment, but developed an interest in gardens and taught himself landscaping skills from books and YouTube. He studied for his RHS Level 2 and 3 qualifications in horticulture at night before studying garden design at The English Gardening School, and setting up his own design company in 2023.
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Friends were amazed at how he managed to juggle his responsibilities as a father, working full-time, studying, and growing his business and social media presence on the side. “I just put it down to being good at spinning plates,” he says. “But then those plates came crashing down.”
He suffered bouts of depression, anxiety and panic attacks. “I was in a terrible spot, and it was a real struggle for my family. That’s when I started to speak with my GP and talk about it on Instagram. I got people reaching out to me saying, ‘I’ve got depression too’, or ‘I feel suicidal’. I’d opened the door to all these people, and I’m not the most qualified to give mental health advice, but I can direct them to a charity such as Mind.”
Henry knew the power of green therapies and that gardening can help lessen anxiety, and decided to give himself a goal or project to focus on – a marathon 24-hour gardening challenge for charity Mind, which took place in August 2024. “It was more of an endurance test than I thought,” he admits. “I was extremely tired – I haven’t done an all-nighter since I was a teenager.”
In the end, Henry single-handedly raised almost £11,700 in 24 hours. “It was a feel-good event,” he says, “but I slept for about 20 hours afterwards.”
He lives in Brighton with his wife and three children, and is presently writing his first book. He recently joined the team of TV show Alan Titchmarch's Gardening Club on ITV, presenting segments for Season 2, which is being broadcast throughout spring 2025.
Henry has also created several collections of perennials for the online garden retailer Crocus, inspired by those he grows in his own garden.
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