Dan Pearson was six years old (born in the UK in 1964) when he helped his father design a lily pond at their Arts and Crafts-style home in southern England; by eight, he was looking after an elderly neighbor's greenhouse. He won a seat at the Royal Horticultural Society's school in Wisley at 17, and by 25, he was appointed house garden designer at Conran Shop on Fulham Road, then at the forefront of British interiors. Within a year, he had opened his own studio. Today, he is also a journalist and television presenter.

He was, says Christopher Woodward, director of London’s Garden Museum, which maintains a miniature jungle designed by Pearson of unusual botanical species, including the Afghan fig with its snowflake leaves and *Canna x ehemanii*, with its magenta trumpets, “truly a wonderful child.” Over the years, Pearson has written five books, narrated a series of garden documentaries for the BBC, written garden columns for *The Telegraph* and *The Observer*, and created landscapes for fashion designer Paul Smith and former Apple design director Jony Ive. He is now among the most famous horticultural figures in the UK, a country where master gardeners have a large following.