Gardening guru Tanya Visser, who was in East London this week to speak to women on how to be as green fingered as she is, landed her hit gardening show on DSTV’s Home Channel by complaining.Visser, 43, who also edits the glossy The Gardener magazine which she founded, was so annoyed by the lack of sparkle in the local gardening show on the channel at the time, that she called the producer to “tell her what I thought.
“She asked me if I could do a better job and I said, ‘give me a screen test,’ which she did,” Visser recalled. “And then I had a TV programme.”
Now in its 15th season, the show’s success is due largely to Visser’s unbridled enthusiasm for plants, which she refers to as “the little guys” and her innate likeability, which shines through on the small screen.
Speaking to Saturday Dispatch ahead of an address to hundreds of women at Builders Express in Arcadia, Visser, who starts shooting the 16th season of The Gardener in December, said juggling her duties as editor, TV host and Builders’ roadshow speaker – she has 52 appearances this year – constituted “a hell schedule”.
“I am trying to sell ads for the magazine, do speeches, film the show and spend time with my family,” said Visser, who finds refuge from her frenetic schedule at her KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) smallholding with her wife Lyn, who she described as her rock.
“She’s my voice of reason; she keeps me calm.”
Considering her punishing programme, has her own garden not fallen victim to weeds?
“Of course I have weeds, you’re not normal if you don’t, but I take two Sundays a month where I spend from sunrise to sun-up in my garden and once I’ve done that I feel better. I am physically exhausted with a tingle of sunburn and then I can sit on the patio with a whisky or a gin and tonic and look at what I’ve done.”
As a novice horticulturist straight out of college, Visser took a job at a large garden centre in KZN where her boss made her learn 50 plant names a week and then tested her on Fridays.
“It really gave me my grounding,” said Visser, who praised East London’s climate, but described our soil as sea sand.
“The quite tropical climate means you can go for the tropical look, but still tinker with roses. And the indigenous plant movement is big here which is a good thing.”
Top gardening guru recalls unbridled screen grab
Visser, 43, who also edits the glossy The Gardener magazine which she founded, was so annoyed by the lack of sparkle in the local gardening show on the channel at the time, that she called the producer to “tell her what I thought.
“She asked me if I could do a better job and I said, ‘give me a screen test,’ which she did,” Visser recalled. “And then I had a TV programme.”
Now in its 15th season, the show’s success is due largely to Visser’s unbridled enthusiasm for plants, which she refers to as “the little guys” and her innate likeability, which shines through on the small screen.
Speaking to Saturday Dispatch ahead of an address to hundreds of women at Builders Express in Arcadia, Visser, who starts shooting the 16th season of The Gardener in December, said juggling her duties as editor, TV host and Builders’ roadshow speaker – she has 52 appearances this year – constituted “a hell schedule”.
“I am trying to sell ads for the magazine, do speeches, film the show and spend time with my family,” said Visser, who finds refuge from her frenetic schedule at her KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) smallholding with her wife Lyn, who she described as her rock.
“She’s my voice of reason; she keeps me calm.”
Considering her punishing programme, has her own garden not fallen victim to weeds?
“Of course I have weeds, you’re not normal if you don’t, but I take two Sundays a month where I spend from sunrise to sun-up in my garden and once I’ve done that I feel better. I am physically exhausted with a tingle of sunburn and then I can sit on the patio with a whisky or a gin and tonic and look at what I’ve done.”
As a novice horticulturist straight out of college, Visser took a job at a large garden centre in KZN where her boss made her learn 50 plant names a week and then tested her on Fridays.
“It really gave me my grounding,” said Visser, who praised East London’s climate, but described our soil as sea sand.
“The quite tropical climate means you can go for the tropical look, but still tinker with roses. And the indigenous plant movement is big here which is a good thing.”
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