Clare Walker
Clare has been contributing to Modern Gardens since 2020 with a focus on plants, especially those that inspire readers to fill their gardens with mood-boosting blooms. There’s nothing that makes her happier than sharing her love of gardening and giving readers the confidence to have a go at creating their very own slice of paradise.
With a passion for being in the great outdoors, Clare’s in her element when she’s donning her wellies. A career in gardening or writing had never crossed her mind and, in fact, she started out as a flood hydrologist – in her wellies, of course!
Her love of gardening began 25 years ago and, like many gardeners, it’s been a meandering journey that started with creating a garden from scratch at her first home in Suffolk. With so much to learn, there were inevitable mistakes – how she wishes she’d heard of Beth Chatto in those early days and her ‘right plant, right place’ wisdom!
It was her next garden, several years later, that had Clare well and truly hooked. Beautiful cottage gardens, rose arbours, an orchard and veggie patch were a lot of hard work but, with so much knowledge to gain, Clare’s gardening journey was picking up pace!
Sadly, three years later, a move to Rutland meant a vastly smaller, barren garden with an awkward hill. But, with the arrival of her twins, her focus on flowers shifted – the garden’s primary function was to be a safe place for her boys to enjoy digging in the dirt, growing sunflowers and eating freshly plucked beans and strawberries. It wasn’t the prettiest of gardens, but it was magical none the less.
During this time Clare gained her RHS Horticulture Level 2 qualification, picked up a few gardening jobs and began writing for Modern Gardens. She loves that she never stops learning about gardening and finds inspiration all around.
Local dog walks reveal woods clothed in bluebells and punctuated by towering foxgloves, or a glimpse of the perfect plant combo in a front garden. Clare can’t recommend the National Garden Scheme more highly – it's the perfect way to legitimately mooch around other people’s gardens, pinching ideas for our own gardens.
A wild swimming pool with sunbathing deck is on Clare’s must-have list! Luckily, her garden has evolved with her family; long gone are the trampoline, climbing frame and balls of every shape and size mowing down alliums. Year-on-year the lawn has got smaller to make way for bigger borders and some of the more resilient shrubs have given way to her favourite peonies, irises and roses. There are seats in every corner so, whatever time of day, there’s always a sunny spot where she can sit back, reflect on the journey so far and make plans for what is to come.
