Profile

David has a passionate interest in all aspects of gardening and garden history. He has lived and worked in rural and urban Britain and also in France, Hong Kong and New Zealand. David’s career in gardening includes working as a planting adviser, lecturing on a wide range of garden-related topics and leading specialist garden tours, which he has done in Britain, continental Europe, New Zealand and the tropics. David is also a prolific writer and his books have appeared in American and numerous foreign-language as well as British editions. David has also been general editor and contributor to major multi-author publications, and as a journalist he has written for national newspapers and specialist publications. He has also appeared on radio in Britain and New Zealand. In pursuing his interests in the visual arts David has explored the important role played by motifs and themes drawn from plants and gardens.

Biography

David was born and educated in New Zealand, where he studied literature at university. Since leaving New Zealand in the 1960s, he has travelled widely and lived in France and Hong Kong before settling in Britain.  Here, at the Architectural Association, he studied the conservation of historic landscapes, parks and gardens.

David worked as a publisher’s editor specializing in books on gardening before publishing his own first book. He has now worked for many years as a freelance writer, planting adviser, lecturer on gardening subjects and tour guide to gardens in Britain, continental Europe, New Zealand and the tropics.

David has written frequently about container gardening. His books on the subject include: Hanging Baskets, Window Boxes and Containers (Conran Octopus in association with the Royal Horticultural Society, 1991), Window Box Gardening (Conran Octopus, 1993) and The Ultimate Container Garden (Frances Lincoln, 1996).

A more technical theme of great interest to him and many gardeners is the control of plant growth. He has written two important books on shaping and training plants: Pruning and Training Plants (Mitchell Beazley, 1992) and Topiary and the Art of Training Plants (Frances Lincoln, 1999). He also collaborated with Christopher Brickell, formerly Director General of the Royal Horticultural Society, in writing Pruning and Training (Dorling Kindersley in association with the Royal Horticultural Society, 1996).

More general books on gardening include The Ideal Home Plant Guide (Conran Octopus in association with Ideal Home, 1995) and The Garden Plant Selector (Ryland, Peters and Small in association with the Royal Horticultural Society, 1998). This major publication develops the theme that success in gardening depends on choosing plants that suit the growing conditions and presents a broad range of plants with specific information on the conditions in which they do well.

In his two most recent books, Foliage: Dramatic and Subtle Leaves for the Garden (Quadrille, 2001) and The Daily Telegraph Best Flowers to Grow and Cut (Frances Lincoln, 2004) and The Art of Natural Bonsai (Sterling, 2004).David has adopted a novel approach to presenting selections of classic plants, or plants that will in time be classics, grouping them according to distinctive aesthetic characteristics.

David’s interests include music, literature, food and wine, travel and the visual arts (he is a practising printmaker). A perennial field of interest to him is the way plants and gardens have been a source of inspiration to artists and designers.

David’ wife is the British hat designer and milliner Anna Daventry.

Updated 28/02/2009