Biography
An interest in gardening started early for Mark. When he was a child, he spent hours working with his Grandfather on an allotment growing vegetables and helping to restore their Victorian period garden in Kent. Whilst studying for A’levels, he applied to the Royal Horticultural Society for a place as a short-term entrant student at their Gardens in Wisley, Surrey. He was successful in his application and began studying there in September 1988. This provided a wealth of experience in practical horticultural techniques and introduced him to an extensive variety of plants.
Following completion of the year long course at Wisley, he was given the opportunity to become a staff member and work on the compilation of a new pictorial Encyclopaedia of Gardening. This provided Mark with the two years required time of practical experience to apply for a place on the Kew Diploma course in Horticulture at the Royal Botanic Gardens. An ambition he had longed to follow since his early interest in plant life had started. He was selected as one of only fifteen privileged students each year to study at the botanic gardens and graduated at the end of the three year course with the Kew Diploma in Horticulture.
Following graduation from Kew in 1993, Mark moved to Gloucestershire to work with the Kew Foundation on a private arboretum collection in the Cotswolds. After three and half years, he decided to set up on a freelance basis in the county working for private gardens and estates in the area. In 2003 he established Mark Lamey Gardens Limited, which now focuses on the design, construction and maintenance of private gardens throughout Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire as well as projects in Dorset, London and South Wales. He also writes on a regular basis for garden journals and magazines.