Plantsman and landscape designer Charlie Harpur is head gardener at the Knepp Castle Estate in the UK, the site of a pioneering 3500-acre rewilding project initiated in the early 2000s. He primarily oversees the more recent rewilding of Knepp’s Victorian Walled Garden, a design collaboration between internationally acclaimed landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith and horticultural ecologist James Hitchmough, and the development of its regenerative Market Garden. Charlie and his team are guided by the principle that “Rewilding a garden does not just simply mean ‘letting go’. Instead, it requires thinking creatively, identifying ways in which disturbance can mimic and encourage natural processes.” Through images and video he will detail the bold  transformation of a croquet lawn into a dynamic, productive landscape that welcomes wildlife and nearly 1000 different plant species.

Speaker Bio:

Prior to joining Knepp in 2022, Charlie trained as an architect and worked for landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith for several years. He also gained practical experience in horticulture and ecology at the Chelsea Physic Garden, Great Dixter and Kew Gardens, graduating with a Kew Diploma in Horticulture in 2020.

Additional Resources:

https://www.instagram.com/kneppwilding/

https://www.nyrb.com/products/wilding

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/book-of-wilding-9781526659309/-9781526659309/

All images courtesy of Knepp Castle Estate.