Quick Takes With: Arthur Parkinson

We have a treat in store for you today: a Quick Takes column with Arthur Parkinson, everyone’s favorite gardening wunderkind who famously befriended the late Duchess of Devonshire (when he was just seven!) after he wrote to her about their shared passion for keeping chickens. Arthur never grew out of his obsession, and a couple years ago, he poured all his learned wisdom into the book, his fourth, Chicken Boy: My Life With Hens.

His prior books? They were about the other love of his life: gardening. (See our story on The Flower Yard here.) Arthur is known for planted pots bursting with, as he described it on his Substack, “Venetian colours jam-packed full of nectar for bees and butterflies.” His next book will focus on cut flowers.

Today Arthur, who calls his Instagram account “a romp of flowers, hens, bees, flamingos, & pouting characters,” shares his favorite gardening hack, a controversial opinion regarding dogs and kids in the garden (nothing against them, but…), and more.

Your first garden memory:

Above: Young Arthur with his “Grandmar” at Chatsworth House. Photograph via @arthurparkinson_.

Getting lost in vivid beds of Russel hybrid lupins at Chatsworth House when I was 3.

Garden-related book you return to time and again:

The Garden by Deborah Devonshire.

Instagram account that inspires you:

@nate_moss.

Describe in three words your garden aesthetic.

Above: Arthur was just in his early 20s when he created his first garden for a client: English potter Emma Bridgewater’s vast Stoke-on-Trent headquarters. He wove the birch arches (using self-seeded silver birch saplings) to link the raised beds and provide structure for the sweet peas. See our story about it here. Photograph by Clare Coulson.

Demanding, engulfing, bees.

Plant that makes you swoon:

Foxgloves, honeysuckles, peonies, dahlias, waterlilies, mints, soft fruit, roses, scabious, violas, cosmos, nasturtiums, herbs, geums. Poppies.

Plant that makes you want to run the other way:

Begonias, Laurel, photinia yucca, phormium, busy Lizzies, bedding geraniums. Conifers.

Favorite go-to plant:

Geums.

Hardest gardening lesson you’ve learned:

That the garden you love today won’t always be yours tomorrow.

Unpopular gardening opinion:

Above: An Instagram shot of some of his beloved Buff Cochin chickens.

I hate the idea of the garden being domesticated into an outdoor room with facilities to accommodate barbecues and the like. I also think dogs and children often cripple a garden!

Gardening or design trend that needs to go:

Fences. We need as many native hedges our garden boundaries can accommodate because they are vital habitat for songbirds and insects.

Old wives’ tale gardening trick that actually works:

Prune the roses.

Favorite gardening hack:

A deck chair in the summer plonked—make yourself have time in the garden. Don’t be a slave to the work. Embrace it and enjoy being in it when the weather is good.

Favorite way to bring the outdoors in.

Above: “One of my favourite tablecloths embroidered pink wisteria by Colefax and Fowler matching perfectly to the little nasturtium that is ‘Ladybird Rose’ which is one of the best to grow for little pots as it has a stunted habit compared to others. With sweet peas.” From Arthur’s Insta account.

I cut flowers from the garden every few days and bring pots in, and out, too.

Every garden needs a…

Bird bath.

Favorite hardscaping material:

As little as possible.

Tool you can’t live without:

Florist scissors they are great for pruning and cutting.

Go-to gardening outfit:

Unfortunately almost everything I own.

Favorite nursery, plant shop, or seed company:

Burford Garden Co.

On your wishlist:

Gooseberry bushes.

Not-to-be-missed public garden/park/botanical garden:

Coton Manor, Northamptonshire.

The REAL reason you garden:

Above: Photograph courtesy of Create Academy.

Emotional connection to the earth. I suppose also it’s good to be God to a packet of seeds. Love the magic of growing and nurturing something.