Dan Pearson: A man for all seasons

Chelsea gold medal-winning designer Dan Pearson names s his favourite plants and tells Hannah Stephenson how they can be partnered in the garden

He has designed the most ambitious award- winning gardens, is a pioneer of natural landscapes; a wildflower expert, and a seasoned plantsman and columnist.

Now, Dan Pearson has collated 10 years of writing in a year-round celebration of the garden — urban and rural — in his book Natural Selection. But his favourite seasons are spring and autumn. “I like spring for the opening up and all that optimism and its break with our long and grey winter, and all that energy,” he says.