The Heart Behind Flower Power: A Q&A with Jac Semmler

Jac Semmler. Photo credit: Phoebe Powell

What inspired you to write Flower Power?

How to make a garden from plants has been an enduring question for plant lovers, practitioners and those aspiring to grow a little beauty. While I was writing, the questions I was thinking about were, how can what I know and see in a garden be generously shared and illustrated for others? How can I help plant lovers out there cultivate a personal garden of wonder though time? It has been wondrously satisfying to formulate a method to follow – design principles to consider. It is based on technical considerations professionals use in design but distilled to be of use for any gardener.

Is there a flower or plant combination you especially love right now?

It may be a little unexpected but I find the combination of succulents with wildflowers – the whimsical annual flowers – to be such an intriguing combination. It might be unanticipated in a garden but I’ve seen it so often seen in the dry summer areas I have been travelling to for work and research. The succulents often provide a microclimate for the super bloom to erupt from. The contrast of the structure and permanence of the succulent with the airy, free flowering of the wildflower – I just love it.

For someone just starting out, what are three flowers you recommend planting first?

• Everlastings, or paper daisies: they are so very iconically Australian and diverse, ranging from Helichrysum to Rhodanthe and so many more. They dry perfectly to retain their wonder and have a special tactility – you can't help but play with their petals.
• Californian poppy: these flowers are such an easy wonder with their open bloom and the way they generously reseed in a garden.
• Sunflowers: aren't sunflowers just the happiest plants, with their sunshine breeziness and full faces? I love the red and burgundy shades and the generosity of multi-headed varieties. I also love the seed heads, they are incredible in their architecture.

A Sunflower unfurling wih an Avens in the foreground and a Salvia behind. Photo credit: Sarah Pannell.

What is your favourite thing to do outside gardening?

I do love a quiet little gander, observing how plant communities shift and roll, responding to the seasons. Observation is underrated in what it can teach you, and you learn that this reading of your surrounds and immersion in it can guide your gardening practice. I also love seed collecting – there is a smug satisfaction in collecting seeds from the garden for the next season to come, enjoying the generosity of what can then be grown.

What would you like readers to take away from Flower Power?

You can cultivate and craft a personal garden of wonder that is mostly about the plants. Gardening – the processes, design principles and practices – is something we can all learn. There is no such thing as a black thumb!

Jac in her beautiful garden. Photo credit: Sarah Pannell

Flower Power by Jac Semmler is available now online and in-stores.