{{Short description|English gardening expert and TV presenter}} {{EngvarB|date=November 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}} {{Infobox person | name = Carol Klein | honorific_prefix = | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|VMH}} | image = Carol Klein.jpg | image_size = 200px | alt = | caption = Klein at the 2010 RHS Tatton Park show | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1945|06|24}} | birth_place = Walkden, Lancashire, England | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) --> | death_place = | body_discovered = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} --> | monuments = | citizenship = | other_names = | known_for = Television gardening programmes | television = ''Gardeners' World'' | education = Bolton School | alma_mater = | employer = BBC | agent = | occupation = Garden expert, television presenter, newspaper columnist | years_active = | website = <!-- {{Url|www.example.com}} --> | footnotes = }} '''Carol Ann Klein''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|VMH}} (born 24 June 1945)<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.hellomagazine.com/film/20210218107223/carol-klein-age-family-net-worth-everything-you-need-to-know/ |title=Everything you need to know about Carol Klein: age, children, net worth and more |first=Eve |last=Crosbie |date=18 June 2021 |website=HELLO! |access-date=21 October 2021}}</ref> is an English gardening expert, who also works as a television presenter and newspaper columnist.
In July 2023 the Royal Horticultural Society named Klein as the RHS Iconic Horticultural Hero 2023.
==Early life== Born in Walkden, Lancashire, in 1945, Klein attended Bolton School on a scholarship, but left school when she was 15, due to changes in the catchment area boundaries.{{efn|Klein suspects the actual reason she was asked to leave was that her father had spent time in HM Prison Preston for fraud.<ref name="DID"/>}} She was the eldest child of the family, with two younger brothers.<ref name="DID"/> Interviewed for ''Lancashire Life'' in 2014 she recalled: "I think I was quite close to being chucked out. I loved art and biology but in those days you had to choose between the two subjects. I was fed up about that." She aspired to art school but her father was opposed and she secured a job as a retail assistant at the Kendal Milne department store in Manchester. Her love of gardening was inspired partly by her grandfather, whose allotment she enjoyed, and partly by her mother.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/homes-and-gardens/gardening/22622683.carol-klein-dads-hatred-gardening-love-motorbikes-major-new-series-next-year/|title=Carol Klein on her dad's hatred of gardening, her love of motorbikes and a major new series for next year|date=7 May 2014 |publisher=|accessdate=13 November 2018}}</ref>
Klein originally trained as a fine artist and spent many years teaching art in schools and colleges. Klein met her husband Neil in London, where they lived, first in Kensal Rise and later in St Giles Square in Ladbroke Grove.<ref name=DID/> After 13 years she moved from London to North Devon where she established a plant nursery at Glebe Cottage in Chittlehamholt.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/aug/31/carol-klein-nursery-closure |title=TV's Carol Klein closes nursery after neighbours kick up a stink |first=Martin |last=Wainwright |date=31 August 2011 |via=The Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/jan/31/carol-klein-devon-garden|title=Busy days at Glebe Cottage|first=Carol|last=Klein|date=31 January 2009|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/carol-klein/bio/3000636601/|title=Carol Klein|website=TVGuide.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/jan/31/carol-klein-devon-garden|title=Carol Klein on busy days in her Devon garden|author=Carol Klein|work=The Guardian|date=31 January 2009|accessdate=3 December 2014}}</ref> She exhibited at more than 200 Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) shows and began exhibiting at the annual Chelsea Flower Show in 1990, where she won six gold medals.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/4FHlsdWbLnKcVKvj3XHKBwX/carol-klein |title=BBC Two - Gardeners' World - Carol Klein |website=BBC |accessdate=23 May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/about-the-rhs/rhs-ambassadors/Carol-Klein |title=RHS Ambassador: Carol Klein / RHS Gardening |website=www.rhs.org.uk |accessdate=23 May 2020 |archive-date=23 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023222758/https://www.rhs.org.uk/about-the-rhs/rhs-ambassadors/Carol-Klein |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Television and shows== Klein made her television debut on ''Gardeners' World'' in 1989 and has since presented other gardening programmes such as ''Real Gardens'' and ''Open Gardens''. Projects include ''Life in a Cottage Garden with Carol Klein'' which followed a year in the life of Klein's garden at Glebe Cottage in North Devon, and ''Grow Your Own Veg''. Each week the programme looked at a different group of crop plants or techniques suitable for home gardening. Both programmes were made for BBC Two. She has been a permanent presenter of ''Gardeners' World'' since 2005.
Klein has been described as having a "weather-beaten face, forthright manner and fruity accent – mainly her native Manchester but with hints of West Country."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/8737678/TV-star-Carol-Klein-of-Gardeners-World-is-caught-up-in-a-stinking-row.html|title=TV star Carol Klein of Gardeners' World is caught up in a stinking row|date=3 September 2011|work=The Daily Telegraph|accessdate=3 December 2014}}</ref>
In 2013 she was a joint presenter for two episodes of BBC's ''Great British Garden Revival''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03lv3fb |title=BBC Two - Great British Garden Revival, Series 1 |website=BBC |accessdate=23 May 2020}}</ref>
In March 2023 the RHS announced Klein as the RHS Iconic Horticultural Hero 2023 and invited her to create a garden at the Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival between 4 and 9 July. RHS Ambassador Klein said: "It's very flattering to have been named the RHS Iconic Horticultural Hero. I've always loved nature, plants and gardening and am lucky that I have been able to forge a career out of my passion. I'm really excited by the challenge and look forward to hearing what visitors think. I intend to be on the garden as much as I can during the show so I can talk to visitors about how to propagate and discuss our shared love of plants."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/press/releases/RHS-Hampton-Court-Palace-Garden-Festival-2023-high |title=RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival 2023 highlights include garden by Horticultural Hero Carol Klein |date=15 March 2023 |publisher=rhs.org.uk |access-date=29 April 2023}}</ref> Her show garden at the festival was divided into six main habitats: wetland, woodland, hedgerow, meadow, exposed mountain and seaside, plus a small vegetable patch. She said "My ideas about gardening with nature just seem to reflect the way most people like to garden. And perhaps they want to listen to me because I'm good at talking! I can put an idea across and I hope that I enthuse people: for me, there's no point otherwise. I'm hoping that this show garden will do just that."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-hampton-court-palace-garden-festival/news/2023/carol-klein-iconic-horticultural-hero | title=Carol Klein: Being called 'iconic' makes me giggle }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.hortweek.com/rhs-hampton-court-winners/landscape/article/1828660 | title=RHS Hampton Court winners }}</ref>
In May 2024 she was a co-presenter for BBC's coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/articles/2024/rhs-chelsea-flower-show-how-to-watch | title=How to watch the 2024 RHS Chelsea Flower Show on TV and BBC iPlayer }}</ref>
In 2024, Klein released her book ''Hortobiography'', an autobiography about her life and career.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/447546/hortobiography-by-klein-carol/9781529144345 | title=Penguin Books - Carol Klein - Hortobiography }}</ref>
==Writing== As well as television work, Klein has written a number of books for Mitchell Beazley and writes for gardening publications such as ''BBC Gardeners' World'' magazine as well as a column for ''The Guardian''. She writes a weekly column, syndicated through the Trinity Mirror regional's newspaper publishing business, which appears in the "Saturday Extra" magazine given with regional newspaper titles such as the ''Liverpool Echo''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/saturdays-getting-even-better-your-3011199|title=Saturdays are getting even better in your Liverpool Echo|author=Neil Macdonald|date=4 March 2013|work=liverpoolecho|accessdate=3 December 2014}}</ref> and ''Manchester Evening News''.
==Personal life== Klein is married to Neil Klein and has two daughters, Annie and Alice. Annie lives in California and Alice lives in Lewisham and has two children.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hellomagazine.com/film/20210218107223/carol-klein-age-family-net-worth-everything-you-need-to-know/|title=Everything you need to know about Carol Klein: Age, children, net worth and more|date=18 February 2021}}</ref> In 2011 Klein closed her nursery business, based at her home at Chittlehamholt, near Umberleigh in Devon, after a dispute with her neighbour.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/aug/31/carol-klein-nursery-closure|title=TV's Carol Klein closes nursery after neighbours kick up a stink|first=Martin|last=Wainwright|date=31 August 2011|website=The Guardian|accessdate=31 March 2018}}</ref>
In 2016 she was voted the nation's favourite gardener in a poll for ''Yorkshire Women's Life Magazine'' over her ''Gardener's World'' colleague Monty Don.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pressreader.com/uk/amateur-gardening/20171223/283330407678525 |title=Carol Klein: National Treasure |via=PressReader |date=23 December 2017 |accessdate=31 March 2018}}</ref>
In March 2018 Klein was awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour by the Royal Horticultural Society.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hortweek.com/carol-klein-awarded-rhs-victoria-medal-honour/ornamentals/article/1459534 |title=Carol Klein awarded RHS Victoria Medal of Honour |publisher=hortweek.com/ |first=Matthew |last=Appleby |accessdate=31 March 2018}}</ref>
In May 2024 Klein revealed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and had undergone major surgery on 3 April.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/bbc-gardeners-worlds-carol-klein-9265844 |title=BBC Gardeners' World star Carol Klein diagnosed with breast cancer |first=Katy |last=Hallam |date=4 May 2024 |website=Devon Live |access-date=15 March 2025}}</ref>
On 6 July 2025 she was the castaway for BBC Radio 4's ''Desert Island Discs'', where her choices included Nina Simone's "Feeling Good", "Not Fade Away" by Buddy Holly and the song of the skylark. Her book choice was '' Flora Britannica''(1996) by Richard Mabey.<ref name="DID">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002fjgd|title=BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Carol Klein, gardener|website=BBC}}</ref>
==Bibliography== *''Plant Personalities: Choosing and Growing Plants by Character'' with Jonathan Buckley (Cassell Illustrated, 2004) {{ISBN|1-84403-046-6}} *''RHS Grow Your Own Veg'' (Mitchell Beazley, 2007) {{ISBN|978-1-84533-293-8}} *''RHS Grow Your Own Fruit'' (Mitchell Beazley, 2008) {{ISBN|978-1-84533-434-5}} *''RHS Grow Your Own Veg Journal'' (Mitchell Beazley, 2008) {{ISBN|978-1-84533-471-0}} *''Cook Your Own Veg'' (Mitchell Beazley, 2008) {{ISBN|978-1-84533-407-9}} *''Making a Garden'' (Mitchell Beazley, 2015) {{ISBN|978-1-84533-797-1}} *''Hortobiography'' (Carol Klein, 2024) {{ISBN|978-1-5291-4424-6}}
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}}
* {{IMDb name|id=2691522|name=Carol Klein}} * [https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/series/carolkleinongardening A firm favourite] – article in ''The Guardian'', 28 July 2007 * [https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp66152/carol-klein Portrait] by Tessa Traeger at the National Portrait Gallery, London (2002) * [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00xh5n1 Life in a Cottage Garden] – BBC television programme * [http://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/carol-klein Biography and career] at curtisbrown.co.uk
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Carol}} Category:1945 births Category:Living people Category:People from Walkden Category:People educated at Bolton School Category:English gardeners Category:English garden writers Category:English television presenters Category:English television personalities Category:Television personalities from Lancashire