Meet: Jac Semmler

Young, incredibly enthusiastic and passionate about plants... that’s Jac Semmler. Her new book, Super Bloom has taken her into the stratosphere.

Jac’s introduction in her new book sets the tone, “My heart lives in my garden. Inthe garden I know who I am – my family, my history, my loves and losses, and my dreams for the future.” Her garden is called ‘Heartland’, such an evocative expression of Jac’s passion for plants and gardens. This is where her heart lives – it’s the core of her existence. Jac wants every reader to have their own Heartland.

You say, “happiness for me is when every corner of the garden is packed with plantsand I am surrounded by foliage and flowers.” How did such a young person arrive at this place? Usually, it’s a passion that comes later in life.

I had an idyllic childhood growing up on a farm surrounded by plantswomen, including grandmas and aunts that grew the mostabundant gardens in tough conditions. I always remember loving plants and feeling like I was home when surrounded by them but I don’t believe you need to grow up with plants to enjoy the pleasure of gardening. It is available to all.

 

Your garden is your “home laboratory”, a plant lab filled with flowers and foliage. Does this type of experimentation with plants lead to many failures? In my experience, especially new gardeners, we feel guilt when a plant dies.

We all do feel guilt when we kill plants, but we all do it. All of us! No matter the years of experience I think it helps when we think about our gardens as ‘progressive’ and ‘a process’. Something we learn and get better with from those important mistakes or when things don’t quite go to plan

 

"Super Bloom is a unique, heartfelt appreciation of flowers and the process of gardening from a lens of ‘beauty’. "I love this sentence, this philosophy; you have such a refreshing approach to teaching and writing about gardening. It’s not about ‘to do’ lists, not about jobs, tasks, expectations and problems. It’s so much more about joy, love, and passion. How did you arrive in this space?

I think it is so easy for us to get caught up in thinking gardening is more work and labour in our busy lives. Gardening has always been a sanctuary for me where I can just potter away in the quiet and nurture something. It still amazes me that so much beauty can come from your caring hands; that you and nature together grow abundance around you. I think a lot of the language of gardening, ‘jobs to do’ and ‘monthly garden tasks’ don't quite sit with those moments of beauty and wonder we experience when gardening – finding a praying mantis on a leaf, seedlings germinating, flowers unfurling, and watching bees dance from flower to flower.





 

An impossible question, but do you have five favourite flowers?

How does one narrow it down! I am still finding more and more favourites all the time so it does feel like the list is getting longer rather than shrinking!

1. Paper daisies or straw flowers

I have to say I really do love the Australian paper daisies or straw flowers which is a general description for a large group of plants with similar flowers and paper-like petals. I find these flowers so iconic and they are so easy to dry. They are resilient and petals remind me of jewelled betal shells. I love growing them in a big mass and collecting them by the armful.

2. Salvia

I am a massive fan of salvias for their long flowering and utter diversity. No matter the light conditions or water requirements, there is a salvia for your garden. Evergreen and herbaceous salvia are widely available and great for the beginnings of a flower-filled garden.

3. Wahlenbergia or Australian blue bells

This is a lesser known Australian wildflower but really is the bees knees to grown in a garden. A five-petalled flower in the most luminous blue mauve. And when planted in a large cluster, they are truly divine. Also, so many planting partners to experiment with – dianthus, Californian poppy, sedums, salvia... the list is endless!

4. California poppy

There is something so very carefree about Californian poppy. Their open loose petals and fine grey glaucous foliage, available now in delightful softer colours. They self-seed once established and are resilient for dry summers.They also can flower during the cooler months in frost-free areas as a hardy annual.





 

5. Pelargoniums (previously geraniums)

Now these are often seen in terracotta pots butI think they could be proudly used in public plantings and throughout gardens. Pelargoniums are resilient and full of flowers. They are great to take cuttings from to maximise the plants in your garden. There are species pelargoniums to discover. The foliage of a rose geranium is divine, with many others having fragrant foliage.







Super Bloom: A field guide to flowers for every gardener published by Thames and Hudson is available online and in all good book stores.