Introducing Thierry Delabroye, the plantsman on a fantastic adventure of discovery, exploring every possibility on his journey to bring new perennials into the world.

It’s an enviable existence for every plant lover. A nursery in the French countryside. Swapping plants with leading breeders around the world. Tinkering with pollen and nursing seedlings. But Thierry has earned his lifestyle.

Thierry Delabroye with a quartet of his fabulous Heucheras. Clockwise from top left: 'Caramel', 'Brownies', 'Citronelle', 'Mocha'.

This energetic character began his career as a nurseryman in 1985, immediately after completing obligatory military service. Having studied to grow vegetables, these were the plants that occupied his land, along with some ornamental annuals.

But the vegetable farming didn’t last for long. Inspired by a visit to England, in particular the gardens of Beth Chatto and also Helleborus and shaded plants specialist Elizabeth Strangman at Washfield Nurseries, Thierry suddenly found himself enthralled by the diversities of perennial plants.

Keen to gather information on the subject, he bought the book ‘Perennials’ by Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix, which further fuelled his interest. And upon looking through the RHS Plant Finder and discovering the many thousands of plants listed, his curiosity was on an unstoppable path.

Thierry was literally on the road to building his extensive collection of  perennials, as he drove about 30,000 km around UK visiting nurseries listed in the Plant Finder! Looking further afield, he also ordered seeds from a number of USA based catalogues.

Thierry demonstrates his extensive knowledge as he talks visitors from The Netherlands and USA through his plant collection.

From his original collection of 50 plants, Thierry is now the proud owner of over 1200 different varieties, including comprehensive collections of botanic species plants from a number of genera. "All plants are beautiful", he says with a satisfied smile. While modern hybrids may be more spectacular to look at, botanic species plants are by natural selection the strongest plants of their type, so contain many useful qualities for breeding.

One of Thierry’s priorities when breeding new plants is that they are strong and live long in the garden. “It’s no use creating something beautiful if nobody can grow it.”

But he realises that the journey to achieve strong, healthy, good-looking plants may be a long one. Years may go by without any seedlings with the desired combination of traits occurring. But that doesn’t curb his enthusiasm. “It’s a long journey, but I will continue to do whatever is necessary for as long as it takes.”

Thierry is also insistant on giving due tribute to his wife of 17 years, Sandrine. A hairdresser with no knowledge of plants at the time they met, she was inspired by Thierry's enthusiasm and today is the brains behind his business, as well as being the person who spotted the Heuchera later to become 'Caramel'.

While Thierry's passion is to collect plants and to experiment with breeding, he acknowledges that it's not possible to live by plant breeding alone, and Sandrine is the one who ensures the nursery business is attended to. In Thierry's words, "If left to me, I would talk all day, and no money would ever be made!"

But talking is also important. Thierry has a network of plant breeding friends around the world with whom he swaps plants and ideas. As well as fellow Darwin PlantSpotters breeders Marco can Noort, Richard Saul and Chris Ghyselen, he is proud to be engaging in plant talk with such eminent figures as Beth Chatto, Elizabeth Strangman and Princesse Sturdza.

He is also very active in attending exhibitions to display his plants to a wider audience. After all, you never know who you'll meet next!

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