These are the eight images which were shortlisted for the 2021 Portfolio Photographer of the Year Award under the title Profusion, with the following text:
These images show plants in profusion, in gardens that are exuberant, tactile and extremely beautiful, where plants are foregrounded and given full rein to express themselves. The extraordinary variety of plants is a source of joy for the makers of these gardens as well as for myself, something I try to capture through the lens and hope to communicate to others.
Duncan Scott’s garden (1/8) is a fine balance of structure and froth, including self-seeders such as valerian: the garden at Dove Cottage (2/8), is a skilful interweaving of the grasses and herbaceous perennials that Kim and Stephen Rogers offer in their adjoining nursery; Jane Edmonds’ flower field glows at dawn with annual and perennial flowers (3/8); the mosaic of perennial plants at Cambo Walled Garden expresses former head gardener Elliott Forsyth’s passion for new ways of planting (4/8); Irene Thomson’s garden, Glassmount, is a magical place, unselfconscious and, bursting with vegetable life (5/8); on the shores of Little Loch Broom, Sue Pomeroy and Will Soos have filled their garden with many plants, including South African species (6/8); Simon Bennett revels in exotic plants in his Lincolnshire garden and releases house plants for summer holidays (7/8); finally the stumpery at Arundel Castle in West Sussex is a veritable feast of plants, product of head gardener Martin Duncan’s fertile imagination (8/8).
