Sir Roddy Llewellyn

Since a child Sir Roddy Llewellyn has been fascinated by plants and gardening. It all started when he was given a packet of seeds and a tulip bulb aged three. In 1976/77 he gained the National Certificate of Horticulture and the Surrey County Certificate in Landscape Construction, and in 1977 he formed Roddy Llewellyn Landscapes. In 1981 his first book, Town Gardens, was published by Weidenfeld and Nicholson, followed by six others – 1985 Beautiful Backyards, 1987 Water Gardens: The Connoisseur’s Choice, 1989 Elegance & Eccentricity, 1991 Growing Gifts, 1993 Grow It Yourself, and 1997 Roddy Llewellyn’s Gardening Year.

From 1981-85 Roddy Llewellyn was gardening correspondent for The Star, and from 1987-1999 for the Mail on Sunday. His experience in horticulture has been wide and varied. In 1994 he was a Guest Panellist on BBC Gardener’s Question Time, and in 1995 was elected an Associate Member of the Institute of Horticulture. From 1997 until 1999 Roddy presented Roddy Llewellyn’s Garden Guide with BSkyB (Granada Breeze), running to almost 200 programmes. A year later in 1998 he was contracted as Gardening Presenter for This Morning with Richard and Judy. In 2003 Roddy launched the Llewellyn Lectures near his home in Oxfordshire at the Burford Garden Company. He lectures on a variety of horticulture-related subjects, and designs gardens from small urban to country estates.