Meet the Rich Brothers, the gardening duo taking horticulture by storm

There are several work-induced nightmares that haunt pretty much every writer in the business. One of them is discovering that your rattly dictaphone has malfunctioned, wiping an interview off the face of the earth.

Luckily, when this happened to me for the first time, I happened to be chatting to two of the most charming men in popular horticulture, whose only complaint was having lost all of their ‘cracking jokes.’

The upbeat David and Harry Rich, who are well on their way to knocking our beloved Monty Don off his garden-pedestal (sorry Monty), have taken the worlds of landscape design, horticulture, television and Instagram by storm.

Since founding their garden design company Rich Landscapes in 2013 and becoming the youngest team to win gold at the RHS Chelsea Flower show in 2015, the pair have become known for their clean, modern lines, naturalistic planting and cheery, down-to-earth disposition. All of which has brought them projects with fashion houses Chanel and Massimo Dutti, Hampshire hotel Heckfield Place and residential enthusiasts across Europe – as well as a book deal and several television spots on the BBC.

Their own show, Garden Rescue, where the brothers go head-to-head with old school on-screen gardener Charlie Dimmock in a competition to win clients, has brought them a gaggle of green-fingered millennial fans and their own range of garden furniture with Habitat, which launched earlier this week.

Both brothers cite growing up in Brecon, rural Wales, as the main reason they fell into the industry. ‘We had loads of space. We weren’t necessarily doing horticultural things but we were just playing and running around, enjoying being outdoors really. Mum and dad had a modest garden, nothing big, with nothing that special in it. But our dad loved the idea of creating a little mini estate – whether that was building a garage or getting rid of some old stone walls – so we helped him with that’, says David. ‘We were pretty much slave labour’, jokes Harry, adding ’but we definitely grew up understanding the landscape and really enjoying being outside. I think it was that love of being outside, along with nature that really inspired us to go out on our own into the landscape business. All of the pieces came together nicely.’

Harry, the eldest of the two, took the plunge first, leaving Wales to study Landscape Architecture at Leeds Metropolitan university. And as soon as David caught a glimpse of his brother’s creative projects, he jumped on the same path.

‘We both love having the freedom to create space, we get a real buzz from the fact that we can benefit an outdoor space with a simple bit of design. We can make a massive difference by changing a few small things.’ says David.

‘And we love bringing people together’ adds Harry, ‘creating a garden with hard landscaping and then bringing in living plants. Our job is about creating a space that’s always changing within the seasons. Having greenery around you is very therapeutic, so to be able to create gardens and atmospheres for people using a palette of plants, trees and shrubs is so much fun.’

Plus, they love the unpredictability. ‘It’s not static at all and that keeps it exciting. You plant something,  you think it’ll do what you know it should, but suddenly it takes over a wall or climbs up a tree. You can never truly anticipate or understand the beauty of it and I think that’s what’s so nice about gardening – it can always surprise you.’ says Harry. ‘It’s like with bulbs,’ chimes David, ‘when you plant them, you don’t see them at all. But before you know it they’ve poked up and they’re doing their thing. Gardens don’t reveal everything at once, you can’t predict what will happen over the year and how it will change from spring to summer to autumn, even in winter. That seasonal progression, how the garden evolves, is really special.’

With so much in common, it comes as no surprise that in their personal lives, they prize their own space. While they’re always working on a common project, (‘we’re chatting on Whatsapp every 15 minutes’, says David) both brothers live distinctly different lifestyles. David is ‘up in East London with a couple of mates in a flat’, where he’s only able to squeeze in a few of their galvanized Habitat planters. While Harry on the other hand, moved back to Brecon eighteen months ago, where he, his girlfriend Sue and baby Indigo have enough space to afford the lot. ‘I moved back to a huge house and garden project, so I’ve been busy for the last year making cabinets and building as many things as I can so we don’t have to buy them. Meanwhile I’ve become a parent, we’re opening a yoga studio and I still love being outside. I’ve recently taken to painting the landscape around us, too. I’m really enjoying life, but it’s very busy, very tiring.’

Harry and David’s collaboration with Habitat is available now at habitat.co.uk.