Graham Kendall leads Travel Editions botanical tours through the wildflowers and landscapes of Greece, drawing on decades of horticultural experience.
Graham Kendall
Graham Kendall is an experienced horticulturist and botanical guide who leads Travel Editions tours through the wildflower-rich landscapes of Greece. His career in horticulture began in 1968 and includes training at the Savill Garden in Windsor and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. He later served as Head Gardener at three National Trust properties before establishing his own horticultural business and consultancy.
Graham’s enduring connection with Greece began in 1979, when he spent a year working and studying at Sparoza, a pioneering garden on a dry hillside outside Athens. Created to explore how native Greek plants could be grown alongside species from other Mediterranean-climate regions, Sparoza is now owned by the Goulandris Natural History Museum and is home to the Mediterranean Garden Society. The experience gave Graham an unusually close understanding of Mediterranean plants in cultivation and in their natural habitats, and inspired a lifelong fascination with Greece’s diverse native flora.
He has returned to the country numerous times and has led plant-focused tours across several regions and islands, helping guests discover how Greece’s flowers change with altitude, geology, climate and habitat. His knowledge encompasses landscapes ranging from woodland and mountain gorges to olive groves, coastal areas and phrygana, the characteristic low, aromatic scrubland of the eastern Mediterranean.
Graham has also shared his knowledge through horticultural talks and writing. His reflections on his formative year at Sparoza were published as a five-part series in The Mediterranean Garden, charting the garden and its plants through the changing seasons.
Combining professional horticultural experience with decades of first-hand exploration, Graham brings both practical understanding and personal enthusiasm to his tours. His guidance helps guests look beyond individual flowers to appreciate the habitats, seasonal conditions and wider landscapes that make Greece one of Europe’s most rewarding botanical destinations.
