For Paul Hervey-Brookes, “Everything is on the edge of nothing”.
“Sometimes, we only value what we are at risk of losing. The idea of preserving, maintaining and cherishing what seems mundane and is considered part of our daily existence is often ridiculed. Just like the fragile balance between nature, the ecosystem and the role of each element: water, insects, plants, the life cycle of nature, it is most often believed to be long-lasting without any required intervention. As humans, our actions are often harmful and driven by greed. We are destroying our world with fields devoted to single-crop farming, lawns stripped of biodiversity and paved streets. We are putting our very existence in danger through our own reckless acts.”
Le jardin source de vie is a space where visitors will see an F1 arid single-crop field (a crop that has been selected over several generations to obtain specimens with specific sought-after traits) and an example of harmonious nature, where water gives life, plants colonise, form a sanctuary for insects and recycle effortlessly by creating new soil, and where trees purify the air while offering shelter.
DESIGNER
Paul HERVEY-BROOKES, garden designer
UNITED KINGDOM
Paul Hervey-Brookes is an English garden designer who has won awards on an international scale. He has had a keen interest in plants since his childhood. Some of his earliest memories are of his family being given cuttings and tubers by their neighbours while he was growing up. Paul lived in Oxford back then, a short distance from the University Botanic Garden. This early interest grew into a deep fascination, which led the young man to study at Pershore College of Horticulture in 1997. During this time, he also worked for a specialist herbaceous perennial nursery, Cotswold Garden Flowers, and took part in a number of plant fairs. These travels led him to study at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, where he learnt from some of the most knowledgeable and inspiring botanists in the world.
After university, he worked in Italy restoring a Renaissance garden, and later in France for Baron de Rothschild. Upon returning to the United Kingdom, he studied landscape design and created a show garden at the Malvern Autumn Show 2008. This first creation led to a long, prestigious series of show gardens exhibited at the Chelsea Flower Show and Hampton Court, as well as exhibitions on an international stage in the United States, France, New Zealand, Japan and Australia.
His work as a garden and landscape designer is highly diverse. Paul Hervey-Brookes enjoys working on all sorts of spaces, from small gardens to large country estates as well as public spaces. He also works on a number of horticultural projects such as designing an exclusive range of gardening gifts for Marks & Spencer and creating his own range of gardening clothes and products. He writes for magazines and also paints. Paul Hervey-Brookes has received many awards.
