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Definition of a Gardener?

Mary370Mary370 Posts: 2,003
in The potting shed
 I'm interested in your definition of a gardener.   I for one believe that anybody who spends time.... effort and money on their piece of garden would be considered a gardener.
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  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Unless it's an 'outside room' ;)
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • PurplerainPurplerain Posts: 1,053
    I agree with you Mary.

    To me being a gardener is someone who enjoys their garden, picking up knowledge as they go along because they are interested in it.

    I get a lot of joy from raising seeds, but I know that's not for everyone. I enjoy sharing the garden with the family and I know they think I am very clever, but of course I am not, just someone who has grown things for a long time.

    I do have a good idea of what I am growing, even if I say I don't, but as for Latin names? No that's not me unless I need to know, and the internet is great for that.
    SW Scotland
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I think a gardener is interested in plants and growing things and because they're interested they keep learning. 

    Someone who is more interested in keeping things mown, clipped and neat and tidy is more of a grounds-person. 

    Of course, people should have the sort of garden that makes them happy, but I do think it's an important distinction ... some people advertise for a gardener and get a grounds-person and then wonder at the results.

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • glasgowdanglasgowdan Posts: 632
    Are you a plumber because you tightened a leaky pipe? Or a lawyer because you took someone to small claims court? :) 

    Hobby gardeners/keen gardeners are terms I would use for householders who garden. A gardener is a professional term to me that means someone who makes their living from gardens. I'm not judging, or saying one is better than the other, just that's what it means to me :)
  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    A form of mental illness that leads the sufferer to pit themselves against the combined forces of weather, climate, pests and diseases and expect to win. Variant forms suggest links with OCD, Bi-polar and masochism, and sometimes all three.
    But when it works it's brilliant :D
  • StevedaylillyStevedaylilly Posts: 1,102
    A gardener is someone who has an devoted interest in gardening, but put proffessional or ameteur to the start of gardener and the definition changes to a certain degree. That is based on a proffessional being a possisbly RHS qualified person who make their living out of it and an amateur not possessing any gardening qualifications but does it because they have a love for gardening. No doubt, a proffessional gardener would enjoy their work as well but not without the freedom that a normal gardener would have 
  • UpNorthUpNorth Posts: 376
    clues you've become a gardener:

    you started with a few pots of basil, parsley and coriander from seed, maybe some hard landscaping, then a few years later you....

    have lists of seeds, required plants, jobs to do
    learning the art....form and function, colour, texture and passage of time
    learning the science...soils, propagation, botany etc
    watches gardeners world
    scarifies lawns
    name your beds ( bog garden/dry garden/winter garden..etc etc)
    pots on, pots up, grows on, prunes, shapes
    always loads of pots with plants in various stages
    cleans tools
    has a library of books for winter months
    never has enough greenhouse/windowcill/conservatory space
    visits RHS and other open gardens for ideas.  
    always hopeful a visitor will take a look around your garden!
    takes imense satisfaction from casual visitors "wow it's lovely here" type comments.

    list not open for criticism :) but feel free to add more.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 274
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  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Definition of a gardener.....a person who has a great love of nature, great patience and can take great disappointments. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • MarlorenaMarlorena Posts: 8,705
    I think the answer is simply in the term itself, a gardener, and doesn't need any other qualifying.. a person who tends a garden..

    However, saying that, there are extensions to this, and I would have to include such terms as Plantsman [a term which doesn't need to be gender specific], and to recognise those with specific plant interests like Rosarian or Glanthophile.. 

    All these are likely gardeners, but not all gardeners are plantsmen or rosarians..

    There need be no snobbery attached, it merely indicates that some people have taken their gardening interest further than most, and I do think this should be acknowledged.


    East Anglia, England
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