Anna Pavord

Anna Pavord (born 20 September 1940) is a British horticultural writer. She wrote for The Observer for over twenty years and for The Independent for over thirty years. Her book The Tulip was listed as a New York Times best seller. The family had neither TV nor a car and she spent many hours roaming the Welsh mountains with her brother. As a child she loved radio jazz and dancing. She attended Abergavenny High School for Girls the University of Leicester and graduated in 1962 with a B.A.(honours) degree in English. She has three daughters, Oenone (b. 1967), Vanessa (b. 1970) and Tilly (b. 1974); and 12 grandchildren.

Pavord worked as copywriter for Lintas Advertising Agency (1962–63), as production assistant and eventual director of Late Night Line-Up, a daily, live TV and media show on BBC TV 1963–70. She wrote for The Observer (1970–92), The Independent (from 1986), The Sunday Times, Country Life, Country Living and Elle, and was associate editor of Gardens Illustrated (1993–2008). She wrote The Tulip: The Story of a Flower That Has Made Men Mad (1999) which was listed as a New York Times best seller.

Books and publications Growing Things (1982) Foliage (1990) The Flowering Year (1991) Gardening Companion (1992) The Border Book (1994) The New Kitchen Garden (1996) The Tulip (1999, 2nd edn 2019) Bloomsbury Publishing Plant Partners (2001) The Naming of Names (2005) or Searching for Order (2009) Bulb (2009) The Curious Gardener (2010) Landskipping (2016)