Listen "Dan Pearson"
Episode Synopsis
Kirsty Young's guest this week is the garden designer, Dan Pearson.His style is governed by a desire to create a sense of place and he is drawn to wild plants and gardens. Aged just five he discovered this passion, while building roof gardens for his collection of trolls and spent the summer watching the plant and animal life in a pond created by his father.He gave up A' levels in favour of apprenticeships at RHS Wisley and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and then spent several years working abroad, studying plants in their natural environment. His first large-scale project was creating a garden for Frances Mossman, a colleague of his mother's, who asked him to design the garden at her Northamptonshire plot. He won more clients through word of mouth and set up his own garden design company in the late 1980s. His work has since taken him all over the world and he has designed five award-winning gardens for the Chelsea Flower Show. Amongst his current projects he is creating a design for London's proposed Garden Bridge.Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
More episodes of the podcast Desert Island Discs
Lee Child, writer
11/01/2026
Margaret Atwood, writer
04/01/2026
Gordon Buchanan, cameraman and presenter
28/12/2025
Sir Salman Rushdie, writer
21/12/2025
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Computer Scientist
14/12/2025
Sally Mann, photographer and writer
07/12/2025
Lorraine Kelly, broadcaster
30/11/2025
Lennie James, actor
23/11/2025
Mary Greenwell, makeup artist
16/11/2025
Ronnie Wood, musician
09/11/2025
ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.