Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenks Farmer.
Hi Jenks, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up on my way out on a dirt road in the 70s. By 18, I wanted to get far away, and I did. I spent a decade away (Clemson, Zambia, Atlanta, Seattle) developing horticulture skills and museum studies. Since the Civil War, I called back to build the first Botanical Garden in SC’s capital city. I have a new book, Garden Disruptors, about the crew of misfits and the social and cultural barriers we broke through while gardening. I left there to develop SC’s second bot garden for Darla Moore, then worked a while redefining gardens at Historic Columbia Foundation. About 12 years ago, my now husband and I decided to focus on our gardens and family farm (a 1750’s sustenance farm) where I grew up. It’s now one of the largest connoisseur bulb nurseries in the US, specializing in the genus Crinum- the world’s largest bulbs. I also started writing then and now have four books and a substack. I was always a ‘C’ student in English and am proud of my writing, especially as it’s a unique perspective on gay culture and how LGBT folks can fit into rural worlds.
Would it have been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It’s easier now to fit into a rural world, but for decades, I thought I’d never even want to live here again. The world changed, and as significantly, I changed. That goes for my personal life and my profession. When I was in Clemson in 1985, I explained to an advisor what I wanted to do work in the botanical garden world, the world of living museums. She said, ‘You’ll have to leave SC.’ And she was right. In the years I was away, though, honing my skills, getting degrees, and seeing great examples of botanical gardens, the South changed. It got more money and vision – and wanted a new style, showy, independent (not attached to a university) botanical garden. Tom and I also chose to lead the market in our nursery. Crinum had fallen out of fashion and was even dismissed as too old, country, and a bit white trash. But we, along with other crinum lovers, showed the world how beautiful they can be, and we told their fascinating stories that cross cultures, classes, and races. Our flowers are featured in glossy magazines like Garden and Gun, Southern Living, and Coast Monthly in Galveston, TX. We are organic, meaning our plants grow more slowly than in box stores and plant sales areas. Labor is an issue, too, but we overcome that with paid internships for high school and college students.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
This is primarily about our garden design work. Our lily farm is our studio, our place to experiment. Here, we use innovative soil-building techniques and creative plantings to produce a crop and provide a beautiful place for farm tours. The plants and lessons we learn on the farm become part of our garden designs. Our designs use plants to enhance, encourage, and realize a plant’s potential rather than dominate plants. For example, we’ve been making meadow gardens for the Deep South since back in the ’90s. We prefer to work with clients who understand plants, the environment, and the stories carried by plants. This quote captures what we do in contrast to garden design based on the domination of plants: We should “Feel connected in a garden. Feel the ecology, the relationship between things, divisions between people, plants, and living things can be healed if we recognize and bridge all parts of our lives, especially in gardens.” From the Epilogue on race in gardens in the book Garden Disruptors.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting?
See gardens that are based on and celebrate plants. Research them to find out which are great. There are plenty of showy, formal display gardens in the world, and you should see those too, but pay attention to how you feel. Does a garden feel like it’s inspired by nature? To answer that question, you must be in nature too. So go, look, feel the wild, and then find gardens that glorify that. For young people starting in the profession, question the industry. Landscaping and landscape architecture are industries. Like any other, they are about profit. We all need to be paid what we are worth, but industries tend to put that first. Gardening and garden-making are art. It’s about making magic and statements, protecting and connecting people to the natural world. Gardening changes, stimulates, and rewards. Determine how to put those things first, and the pay and profit will come.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jenksfarmer.com
- Instagram: @jenksfarmer
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jenksfarmerplantsman/
- Other: https://jenksfarmer.substack.com/?utm_source=navbar&utm_medium=web&r=1ct9w8
Image Credits
Paisa Photography Aiken SC
