Fergus Garrett VMH is an English plantsman, horticultural educationalist and Chief Executive of the Great Dixter Charitable Trust.
His mother left the marriage when Garrett was six months old and returned to Istanbul with the children, where he spent his formative childhood years.
He intensely disliked the principles of modern agriculture and so swapped to study horticulture under lecturer Tom Wright, who had been a student of Christopher Lloyd in the 1950s.
Garrett worked for Brighton Parks Department, gaining practical experience, and then completed a BSc back at Wye College.
During this period, in 1988, he visited Great Dixter and was invited back, striking up a friendship with owner Christopher Lloyd.
[1][2] At the age of 27 Garrett joined the Great Dixter team and worked closely with owner Christopher Lloyd (1921-2006) from 1992 until his death.
The Dixter gardens had lost a sense of clear direction and Garrett helped bring drive and energy to the planning and planting design.
[5] The New York Times noted "Garrett has proven himself a visionary in his own right, with a style more effusive than Lloyd's, but with the same exacting attention to each combination, seeking new sensations of color and texture and -- this is key -- a graceful progression through the seasons.