As a gardener, I love a good film all about gardening, but I also happen to think they appeal to all of us, whether you're a gardener or not. Why?
Because, news flash, gardening films are never really about gardening. They’re about how to live a good life, how to find that delicate balance between chaos and order, between wild spontaneity and careful cultivation, and between duty and pleasure.
More than that though, garden movies are invariably about how to transform your life. How to go from a dry, overgrown, duty-bound life to a rich, abundant, and joy-filled one. And couldn’t we all use that? With that in mind, here are six garden films to inspire you to new life! Enjoy!
1. Something New
Kenya is an all-work-and-no-play kinda woman and she’s got a list of rules for how to run her life that could rival an encyclopedia britannica. All that gets shaken up when she hires sexy, spontaneous, outside the lines landscape architect, Brian, played by the gorgeous Simon Baker, to help her redesign her new home’s run down garden.
He can definitely save her derelict garden, but can he help her to loosen up and learn to play? Can the unexpected gardener, open up Kenya to something more, something new? Or will she stick with her rules to the very end? If you have a list of exactly how your life should look, this might just be the movie for you. After all, life is more fun when we’re open to something even better than our expectations, non?
2. Greenfingers
Helen Mirren and Clive Owen star in this fantastic film based on a true story. Can a garden redeem the unredeemable? That's the question when a motley crew of hardened convicts decide to build one. Colin Briggs is a shadow of a man, broken down by life and and prison.
And yet when the shutdown prisoner is introduced into gardening through a fluke, something unexpected happens. He finds a reason to fight for more than just physical freedom, but for a new life and maybe even love. If your daily grind has got you down. This is the movie for you.
3. A Little Chaos
What happens when life hits us with chaos? With the unexpected in a carefully designed life? A death, a tragedy, a love we didn't expect to find? That's the question in this sumptuous period film. Sabine, a rare female landscaper in the time of King Louis XIV, is hired to help design a small part of the garden of Versailles by the King's head gardner, André Le Nôtre.
But the two are radically divided on how to combine their headstrong styles. Will the complete order and authority of Andre win over? Or will the charming garden chaos of a woman with a tragedy, who knows just how unexpected and surprising life can be woo him along the way?
4. This Beautiful Fantastic
When a reclusive young woman, Bella, hoping to become a writer, moves into a new place, she's not expecting to start an all out war with her curmudgeonly neighbor, and expert gardener, Alfie. They don't see eye to eye on anything, let alone on gardening, which Bella is practically allergic too. All she wants to do is write, not be bothered by a grouchy neighbor or a yard full potentially messy matters.
Yet when her garden becomes so run down and overgrown due to her lack of interest and care, that she's threatened with eviction, the grumpy gardener next door may be her only hope. Can she turn the garden around, keep her home, and find a way to write her book? Or will she lose it all?
5. Saving Grace
After her husband dies, Grace, doesn't quite know what to do with herself. An avid gardener with a beautiful estate and greenhouse she turns to the one thing she does know, gardening. Yet as more and more secrets of her husband's life get revealed, from a mistress, to financial ruin, Grace isn't sure she can hold on to her home or gardening for much longer.
Desperate to keep her home, she turns to agriculture of an illegal kind. It's only supposed to be a one time thing, to keep her home. Just one big pay load is all she needs. But of course, life has other plans. This is a fun romp with the incredible actress Brenda Blethyn and the always funny and charming, Craig Ferguson.
6. Dare to Be Wild
Another film based on an incredible true story of Irishwoman Mary Reynold's journey from rank outsider to winner of a Gold Medal at the Chelsea Flower Show. The youngest person to ever win. When Mary decides to go out on her own as a landscape designer, she sets her heart on doing it with a splash, by getting a prestigious spot at the Chelsea Flower Show, where she wants to show the world, that wild can be beautiful.
There's just one problem, thousands of well known designers apply for a spot at the show, but only 8 are chosen, and as a "nobody" in the field, the odds are against her. Through an incredible and roundabout journey from Ireland, to London, to Ethiopia and back again, somehow Mary ends up coming through.
And that's the list. As you can see Gardening movies are about so much more than just plants. They're about dreams, they're about how to live a life, even when tragedy strikes, and maybe most importantly, how to continually build a life anew. I hope you enjoyed the list, and more than that I hope you go out and watch some fantastic movies!
Thank you so much for reading! See you next week!