Modern heroes of horticulture - Manoj Malde
With many British gardens often characterised by muted tones and traditional cottage garden designs, Manoj Malde is undoubtedly a breath of fresh air in the world of garden design. His journey is one that took him from fashion creative director to an award-winning garden designer and it’s this prior experience that enables him to bring a bold splash of colour to Britain's often traditional horticultural scene.
Born in Kenya, Manoj’s earliest memories are filled with tropical flowers and striking plants growing in large pots on his family's balcony – birds of paradise, jasmine, and roses. Though his family moved to the UK when he was six for educational opportunities, these early experiences with plants left their mark. He can still recall his earliest memories of the family beach house where he collected cowrie shells and ran through palm trees onto silver sand.
His first real taste of hands-on gardening came through his brother Nish, who recruited him as ‘labourer’ for a vegetable plot project. Under his big brother's watchful eye, Manoj was introduced to the basics of seed sowing, propagation, and pest management. Even at such a young age a passion was sparked that soon expanded into houseplants. Such was his ability in creating potted displays on his parents porch that passers-by would stop and admire his African violets and winter-flowering jasmine.
As an adult, Manoj followed a path into fashion. He spent eighteen years as a creative director working with major high street retailers but by his early forties, he started to sense a change in the fashion industry that didn't align with his values. "I didn't want to become a miserable old man in this industry," he tells us. "I'd sooner leave when on a high and remember the best points of that career." With support from his husband Clive, he enrolled at the English Gardening School, completing diplomas in both garden design and plants and plantsmanship.
It goes without saying, his fashion background proved invaluable in this new career. The skills of creating mood boards, putting together colour palettes, and producing technical drawings transferred perfectly to garden design. Even the practice of creating construction drawings for garments helped prepare him for developing detailed garden plans. But it’s his bold use of colour that really sets him apart in the horticultural world.
"People are great at picking colours for their interiors, but when it comes to introducing colour outdoors, they become slightly nervous." He encourages his clients to test colours in their gardens over several months, watching how they change with the shifting light and seasons. "Don't let anyone tell you what colours you should have and what colours you shouldn't have together. Your garden has to bring you joy when you venture outside."
He gave the horticultural world a good example of this approach in his 2017 Chelsea Flower Show debut, ‘Beneath a Mexican Sky,’ which drew praise from experienced Chelsea gold medal winners like Cleve West for “bringing colour to Chelsea.” Despite warnings that his design “wasn't very Chelsea-like," Manoj simply replied "I don't really want it to be very Chelsea." The result was a garden that stood out among its more traditionally styled neighbours with many of the visitors saying they could “stand in front of your garden all day, because it just makes me so happy."
In 2023 Manoj designed the RHS ‘Eastern Eye Garden of Unity’ at Chelsea, but what really made history was when he and Clive held the first-ever wedding at the flower show. The ceremony incorporated Hindu traditions, with florist Simon Lycett creating garlands and personalizing the space with family photos. Garden designer and journalist James Alexander Sinclair was the celebrant. Significantly, the garden later found a permanent home at a Battersea school where 80% of students come from diverse backgrounds and previously had no access to green space.
Today, Manoj is the RHS Ambassador for Inclusivity and Diversity, a role that is enabling him to push for real change in the industry. One of his successful initiatives was the Festival of Flavours, an event celebrating diverse culinary traditions through gardening. It proved so popular that it is now implemented across all RHS gardens. "I think most people know the RHS for their gardens and shows, but something that the RHS doesn't shout about enough is the amount of charitable work that they do outside in the communities."
So what’s happening in 2025? Manoj tells us he’s working on another Chelsea garden, this time tackling the stigma surrounding HIV. It's a project close to his heart, and highlights how far medical treatment has come while also addressing the many challenges faced by those living with HIV. His personal experience of friends afraid to talk about their diagnosis is now a catalyst for his imagination and commitment to using his garden designs as vehicles for important social messages.
With his design work, his ambassador role, and his successful book ‘Your Outdoor Room - how to design a garden you can live in’, Manoj wants to continue challenging popular opinion and stand up for inclusivity in horticulture. His writing career, which began with blogs and culminated in the 52,000-word book for Frances Lincoln, and his journey from fashion houses to greenhouses, demonstrates how his wide ranging design experience is bringing a fresh perspective to traditional British gardening.
