David Domoney

David Martin Domoney, C Hort. FCI Hort (born 26 March 1963) is a Chartered Horticulturist and English celebrity gardener, best known for co-presenting Love Your Garden alongside Alan Titchmarsh and for being the resident gardener on ITV1's This Morning.[3]

David Domoney
Born
David Martin Domoney

(1963-03-26) 26 March 1963
Devizes, Wiltshire, England
NationalityBritish
OccupationHorticulturalist, broadcaster, writer, gardener
TelevisionThis Morning (2011—)
Love Your Garden (2012—)
Partner(s)Adele Holdsworth
ChildrenAlice, Abigail & Lance
Websitedaviddomoney.com

Domoney maintains a gardening advice website and writes regular columns for the Sunday Mirror and Grow Your Own magazine. In 2011, Domoney created the Young Gardeners of the Year competition in association with the Prince of Wales' The Prince's Foundation to showcase new British talent in garden design and construction. In 2013, Domoney also founded Cultivation Street, which is a national campaign to promote school and community gardening with an associated competition.

Life

David Domoney was born in 1963 in Devizes, Wiltshire and was one of three children. He is the son of Raymond Domoney, who was a British Telecoms senior executive, and Jean Domoney, who was an Area Sales manager for Tupperware. Jean was born in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, Scotland.

Domoney attended Moseley School in Birmingham until leaving in 1979 aged 16. He went on to further study at Warwickshire College of Agriculture, where he gained a Pre Cert. Horticulture qualification. In 1980, Domoney enrolled in one of the last of the industry's old style comprehensive three-year apprenticeships with Notcutts Nursery & Garden Centre Group (at the time, the Harrods of horticulture) which included study time at Hadlow College of Agriculture and Horticulture. At Nottcutts, Domoney acted as an Advisor and, later, a Manager in their Plant Advice Centre. In 1983, Domoney completed his Notcutts apprenticeship and went on to study full-time at Pershore College, where he earned an Advanced Certificate in Horticulture (ANCH). Domoney's career in horticulture continued with a position as Sales and Marketing Manager for Anglia Nurseries and then the Horticulture Director for Seasons Garden Centre Group PLC. Domoney then spent a decade heading up global buying teams for superstores like Texas Homecare and Do It All.

Domoney's broadcasting career began at Texas Homecare, where he presented gardening features on their satellite TV station for the company's 20,000 staff. This led to him becoming a presenter for ITV and other major broadcasting corporations.

In 1999, Domoney formed his own garden design and gardening and lifestyle PR company, Domoney Ltd. His company's clients have included Everest, Pavestone, Globus, FITT, John Lewis, Harley Davidson, The Ritz, Lexus, Croft Sherry, Laura Ashley, Manchester Children's Hospital, the British Trust of Ornithology and Levive Diamonds. Domoney has also landscaped gardens for other celebrities, including presenter, Phillip Schofield, in 2010, and England striker Michael Owen for his 'Hello' magazine wedding shoot.[24] Domoney raised finance for his garden designs at Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) flower shows including the Chelsea Flower Show, Hampton Court Palace Flower Show and Tatton Park Flower Show, as well as at BBC Gardener's World Live. To date, Domoney has won 30 Royal Horticultural Society medals, including Best in Show and Chelsea Gold awards, and in 2018, was selected by Prince Edward to receive the Award for Excellence in Horticultural Career Development.[1]

Domoney currently lives in Stratford-Upon-Avon and has two daughters with Adele Holdsworth: Alice-Rose Domoney born August 2014 and Abigail Violet Domoney born March 2016. Domoney is a scuba diver with over 200 logged dives and his specialist PADI diving qualifications include Wreck Diving, Diver Propulsion Vehicles, Maldivian Shark Diver, Deep Diving and Dry Suit Diver.

Career

Television

David Domoney has been a presenter on prime time and national television shows since 2002. These include:

Domoney has also featured as a gardening and nature expert on radio shows, such as The Chris Evans Breakfast Show.[5]

Public Speaking

Domoney is also a public speaker who appears regularly at flower shows and commercial events across the UK. His appearances have included:

  • Hampton Court Palace Garden Flower Festival 2019
  • Shrewsbury Flower Show 2019
  • Martin Roberts' Achieve Weekend 2018[6]
  • London in Bloom, Awards Ceremony 2018
  • Chartered Institute of Horticulture, Annual General Meeting 2018
  • Ideal Home Show Christmas 2018, Christmas Theatre
  • Southport Flower Show 2018, Celebrity Theatre sponsored by Everest
  • Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2018, Celebrity Theatre sponsored by Everest
  • Fleuroselect Home Garden Conference 2017, Germany
  • London in Bloom, Awards Ceremony 2017[7]

Garden designs

His approach is to attract people not normally interested in gardening by enticing them with innovative design and inspiring ideas. He created a Piranha-infested underwater garden with five tanks containing plant biotopes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2009.[27] His show shocked the nation and stopped the Queen in her tracks. It also won him a Gold Medal.[28] The following year he created the Ace of Diamonds garden – the most expensive show garden ever seen at the Chelsea Flower Show with £20m worth of diamonds.[29]

For Harley Davidson he built a garden for a Hells Angel which even had a sculpture Ace of Spades made from Spades. He built the 2010 World Cup football garden at BBC Gardeners World Live and he created a garden in 2015 with the biggest tree house ever seen at a garden event for Quiet Mark, John Lewis & Lexus at RHS Hampton Court Palace.

For 2017 at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, he designed a garden for The Commonwealth War Graves Commission as part of their celebration on the Commissions centenary.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Centenary Garden

He was approached by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) to design a garden for the Chelsea Flower Show 2017.

The Commission works to ensure that the 1.7 million people who died in the two world wars will never be forgotten, and they do this by caring for cemeteries and memorials at and incredible 23,000 locations, in 154 countries. The commission's purpose is to encourage contemplation, remembrance and respect for all that was sacrificed.

Achievements
  • Selected by Prince Edward to receive his 2018 Award for Excellence in Horticultural Career Development[8]
  • Winner of 30 RHS Medals for garden design, floral and scientific exhibits in every RHS category (1999–2019)
  • Winner of 4 & 5 Star RHS trade stands 2015
  • Winner of RHS Chelsea Flower Best City Garden Trophy 2006
  • Winner of RHS Most Creative Show Garden Trophy 2008
  • Winner of the Frank Howell Trophy awarded to the most outstanding old student from Warwickshire College Group
  • Awarded honorary membership of the HTA (Horticultural Trades Association) for services to the horticultural industry 2015
  • Awarded honorary membership of BALI (British Association of Landscape Industries) for services to the horticultural industry 2010
  • Winner of the GIMA (Garden Industry Manufacturers Association) Best Designed Product Trophy 2009

Industry Achievements
  • Giving over 600 horticultural students the opportunity to have the invaluable first hand experience to create a show garden at a national show before they leave college
  • Motivating thousands of communities and schools into gardening through his Cultivation Street Campaign and promoting the benefits of gardening in social environments and as part of a healthy lifestyle
  • Stretching the appeal of gardening to a wider audience with inspiring and exciting show exhibits and gardens

Other projects

David sits on the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Commercial Board. David is a Governor at the London Colleges of Horticulture at Capel Manor. David is also the face of community gardening with his national campaign ‘Cultivation Street’, now in its 5th year supporting hundreds of community gardening projects and school gardens up and down the country. David pioneered the ‘Young Gardeners of the Year’ annual competition at Olympia London, which is now in its 7th year. It is run through his association with the Prince of Wales and The Prince's Foundation for Building Community.

Personal life

Charity work

He is the Gardening Ambassador for THRIVE, one of the largest garden charities in Britain, which aims to enable positive change in the lives of disabled and disadvantaged people through the use of gardening and social horticultural therapy.

David is an ambassador with The Myfanwy Townsend Melanoma Research Fund who raise awareness of melanoma through the Watch Your Back! campaign. As well as prevention, they fund research to help find a cure, lobby in Government for greater awareness and connect with patients to ensure their journey is shared

For over 15 years David has hosted the charity auctions/lotto for Euro plants open days. Since childhood Domoney has collected for the Methodist charity, JMA, and continues to do so.

References
  1. "PRINCE EDWARD AWARD FOR CHARTERED HORTICULTURIST". The Worshipful Company of Gardeners. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  2. "Meet the Team!". Love Your Garden. 17 June 2013. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  3. David Domoney (18 January 2019), James Martin's Saturday Morning - Helping Birds In Winter, retrieved 13 February 2019
  4. Live, Coventry (13 February 2012). "Meet Warwickshire's TV gardener to the stars David Domoney". coventrytelegraph. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  5. "BBC Radio 2 - The Chris Evans Breakfast Show, Harlem Globetrotters and David Domoney, RHS' David Domoney: "Ladybirds can eat 5000 green flies and butterflies taste with their feet!"". BBC. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  6. Reeves, Millie; Scull, Olivia Alexandra (5 September 2018). "Learn the secrets of success from these famous faces this October". bristolpost. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  7. Raffray, Nathalie. "Cricklewood community win Gold at London in Bloom". Kilburn Times. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  8. "PRINCE EDWARD AWARD FOR CHARTERED HORTICULTURIST". The Worshipful Company of Gardeners. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
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