A 61-year-old amateur gardener has become a local legend for his multicolored garden that boasts 200 stunning hanging baskets.
Shaun Schroeder from Bristol, England, spends up to three hours every evening tending to his garden.
The grandad-of-two got into gardening during the COVID-19 lockdowns and since then, he’s been hooked.
He now re-designs his garden each year and has a different look every time.
“Everything dies in winter then I have a blank canvas,” Schroeder said. “It’s totally different this year, all different plants, and they are all arranged differently.”
Schroeder plants everything in one manic week in May, so all the plants will bloom around the same time in late July.
He then spends all summer maintaining the garden; removing every slug and snail by hand to ensure they don’t ruin his handiwork.
“That’s my 10 p.m. ritual—to go and pick them all off and relocate them,” he said. “I get more than 100 off every night!
“They'll slaughter your plants if you let them, and the pellets don’t work these days.”
Schroeder’s budget for his garden is around 1,500 pounds ($1,970) per year—this includes all plants, compost, fertilizer, pots, and tools.
“[T]his year the 200 hanging baskets are looking tip-top,” he said. “The older I get, the harder work it is to keep on top of everything, but it’s such a lovely job.”
His hard work was paid the ultimate compliment this year when one of his friend’s nieces asked if she could have her pre-prom photos taken in his garden.
“I was surprised—but I guess I must be doing something right!” Schroeder said, adding that the garden helps him de-stress after a long day of work.
“It’s relaxing to get out in the garden—even if just to look at it,” he said. “But it’s not just for me, I do it so everyone else can enjoy it too.”
Gardening became his passion during the pandemic, and people walking by would tell him that it “brightened up the doom and gloom during lockdown.”
He has received letters in his letterbox from visitors praising his multi-colored garden—and from locals who take detours on their daily walks just to pass by for a peek.
The diligent grandfather books a week off work in spring, so he can spend a week planting and preparing his garden for the summer.
This year he planted more than ever and has 1,000 petunias, begonias, fuchsias, calibrachoas, impatiens, geraniums, lobelias, and verbena.
His garden includes 200 stunning hanging baskets spilling over with brightly colored flowers, making it a local tourist attraction.
Schroeder said: “I’m lucky I have an understanding wife who lets me spend all weekend in the garden!”
With costs rising, plants have become more expensive, so Schroeder propagates more of his plants from cuttings rather than buying them all new.
This way, a plant that costs 3 pounds ($4) can become 10 new plants.
Around 500 of the 2,000 plants in his garden this year were taken from last year’s cuttings.
Several years on from lockdown, Schroeder’s main aim is still to give others a lovely display to look at.
“A lot of the residents around Whitchurch take detours to go past my garden,” he said. “They love to come up and have a look at it, and I’m always willing to show them around, too, if they want.
“Some walk by in the evenings and tell me it looks fabulous, and people are always knocking on the door.”
“I just do my gardening so everyone else can enjoy it,” he said.
