The gardens and plants that are his gift to the gardening world shine with the reflection of a philosophy to be at one with nature and all the wonderful things she offers.

“You must have a natural respect for the environment in order to create a garden that works and feels good”, Chris explains.

A visit to Chris Ghyselen’s private garden in the west of Belgium demonstrates this perfectly. It is impossible not to feel at ease here, being enveloped by a relaxing, welcoming environment which is equally matched by the hospitality of the hosts, Chris and his wife Anne.

Just one of the many views of the garden

"There are many things to be happy for" says Chris. As the garden works its magic on your soul, you feel a truth in these words.

This fun-loving Belgian garden designer is just entering into the plant breeding arena with a portfolio of Brunneras and Persicarias that will gradually become available over the next few years.

As with many of the breeders featured in Darwin PlantSpotters, Chris’ affinity with nature was evident from when he was a small child. As a 6 year old boy he remembers playing outdoors with his sisters, collecting wild flowers and setting up a make-believe flower shop.

A true affinity with nature. The trees shown in this picture are of the same type and planted at the same time, yet the one on Chris’s land is way ahead of those belonging to his neighbour. Anne thinks Chris’s secret is that he talks to his tree!

Although both Chris’ grandfathers were vegetable farmers, his own father was a doctor and all 8 of his siblings went into the medical profession as doctors, nurses or physiotherapists. Chris’s amusement is evident as he explains, “I wasn’t so fast at school. As a result I am lucky that they didn’t make me a doctor!”

Having avoided a medical career, Chris went on to study horticulture and then garden design. But it took time to build up a name as a designer, and it was about 20 years before he was able realise his ambition to design on a full-time basis. During this time he supplemented his income with general gardening work, which brought its own benefits as  it put him in touch with established plantspeople and designers who became mentors.

One of the most important of these was André van Wassenhove, a gardener and designer Chris encountered working on his own parents’ garden. Chris spent some time working together with him and was encouraged to broaden his horizons through visits to nurseries in other countries. Consequently, he came into contact with other accomplished designers and plantsmen such as Piet Oudolf, Bob Brown and Hans Kramer, with whom he is still in contact, exchanging ideas and plants.

Chris always puts fun first. Kayaking is one of his favourite hobbies, but he's unlikely to be paddling too far along his garden stream!

As well as instilling the virtues of a garden as a warm and homely place, one of Andre’s gifts to Chris was a book about perennials by designer, nurserywoman and writer Mien Ruys. This lady represented the cutting edge of plantsmanship and design for her time. She introduced the use of railway sleepers into garden design, and later went on to establish one of The Netherland’s foremost gardening magazines, ‘Onze Tuin’ (Our Garden). Mien’s book was the most comprehensive on the subject of perennials and gardening ever published at that time, and was big inspiration to Chris.

Chris still treasures Mien's book

In present times, the advent of the internet facilitated the most recent change in Chris’ fortunes. The launch of his website made it easy for a whole new audience to discover him, and as a result he now has clients from all over Belgium and beyond clamouring for his garden design services. Finally Chris has achieved his dream of being a full-time garden designer.

Despite this new-found recognition as magazines across Belgium, France, The Netherlands and even Denmark have begun to publish features about his work, Chis still insists on keeping both feet firmly on the ground and expresses no interest in winning awards, competitions or designing prestigious showpieces for the rich and famous.

“It is important to keep it real”, he says. Gardens are for everyone, not just those with money.” “Money is less important than creating a beautiful garden.”

As his reputation spreads, demand for Chris to design gardens outside of Belgium is bound to increase. He can occasionally be tempted, but although the variation is interesting, for Chris home is very much where the heart is, and his heart is very much with his family.

Chris and Anne Ghyselen

You can see pictures of Chris Ghyselen's garden on his own website http://www.chrisghyselen.be/ (Webmaker: Horticus). The words are all in Dutch but images and plant names are international! Click on "Open tuin" at the bottom of the page and then select the various links on the top right for different sections of his garden. "Tuin", roughly pronouced as "town", is the Dutch word for garden.