When someone receives a diagnosis that no one is ready to hear, a certain kind of silence descends upon them. In early 2018, Rachel de Thame the quiet gardener that millions of British viewers have grown to know through *Gardeners’ World* found herself in that silence. She didn’t make the announcement right away. Her absence from the show was noticed by fans before they knew why. Additionally, there was a period of weeks during which the rumors gently simmered. In the context of gardening, it usually does. restrained. Never obtrusive. Then she spoke, and her choice of words was striking.
In an article for The Times, she said that the diagnosis had caused “shockwaves” in her life a term that seems almost too dramatic for someone who is so relaxed on screen but is perfectly appropriate. Her breast had been discovered to have a tumor. therapy. She was direct in her admission. was “no walk in the park.” That statement from her, Rachel, has a disarming quality. who literally walks through parks during her working hours. gardens. allocations. and display the grounds.
The common metaphor was abruptly turned upside down. I believe that more people have remembered what she said next than the clinical specifics. A “desperate” to-do list was mentioned by her. Not the kind that people jot down on a Sunday night. A mental one. A backlog of plans, things put off because life seemed so long. She seemed to be sharpened rather than just scared by the diagnosis.”The only sensible thing is to get on with living when you’ve felt rocked to your foundations”, she remarked. You can hear the weight beneath it even though it reads almost matter-of-fact.
| Important Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Rachel de Thame (born Rachel Cohen) |
| Nationality | British (English) |
| Profession | Gardener, TV Presenter, Former Actress & Model |
| Known For | BBC’s Gardeners’ World, Chelsea Flower Show coverage |
| Education | Practical Horticulture & Plants/Plantsmanship, English Gardening School |
| Diagnosis | Breast cancer, early 2018 |
| Outcome | Full recovery after treatment |
| Notable Work | Designed floral decorations for The Spirit of Chartwell, Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, 2012 |
| Books | Small Town Gardens; Rachel de Thame’s Top 100 Star Plants |
| Family | Married to Gerard de Thame; four children |
Naturally, her garden was at the center of a large portion of that to-do list. She talked about concentrating on the upcoming spring, how she wanted the area to appear, and more specifically, how she wanted it to make her feel. In the same way that painters discuss a canvas, gardeners frequently discuss the emotional architecture of a story, but in Rachel’s case, this wasn’t aesthetic theory. It was more akin to medicine. Her goal was to “make better use” of the outdoor area and let more people use it.
You could tell she had been considering this in private for years as you watched her explain it. Fortunately, her cancer was discovered early. In oncology, the phrase “caught early” is used so frequently that it can become monotonous. For her, it meant the difference between a brief leave of absence from a job she loved and something much less certain. She stopped filming, informed the BBC that she was “coming towards the end of it”, and underwent treatment in a private setting that was, to be honest, very British. Not a flashy interview circuit. No launch for charity.
Just a quick, heartfelt thank you to fans who had expressed concern. She made a full recovery. She then returned to Chelsea Flower Show and discreetly turned the experience into advocacy, as these stories occasionally do.”It’s essential to go out and be in a garden if you’re dealing with any kind of chronic illness”, she stated. It wasn’t a catchphrase. It was the kind of conviction that comes only from experiencing what you’re talking about. Rachel’s voice has been incorporated into the growing body of research on horticultural therapy, hospital gardens, and even recommendations for outdoor time without ever feeling like an activist.
It’s important to keep in mind that she didn’t start her career there. She worked at Colnaghi, one of London’s oldest art dealers, studied drama and art history, and modeled while expecting her first child. The late 1990s saw the emergence of acting roles, such as in the Merlin miniseries.
Formally, gardening was introduced later through the English Gardening School. The longer you watch her on screen, the more the pivot makes sense. Her presentation of a plant has a theatrical quality, a prolonged pause, and an innate sense of framing. The transplanted eye of the art world. Her illness was handled with the kind of compassion you don’t often see in television culture by the larger gardening community. She didn’t have to go back right away. There were no overly dramatic farewell scenes or staged comeback moments. She just reappeared on her own terms, appearing perhaps a bit more reserved and deliberate. A few viewers experienced it.
It’s possible that no one else noticed. Years later, the to-do list itself or rather, the philosophy it generated remains. It’s difficult to describe how Rachel de Thame’s illness changed her relationship with time without coming across as sentimental, and she’s never sentimental.
She simply continued to garden. continued to give presentations. Even on the bad days, I continued to encourage people to go outside. It’s difficult to ignore it. I’m currently observing her. The woman who quietly insisted was the same one who had previously described her world as shaken. From the beginning. that more planting needed to be done.
i) https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/bbc-gardeners-world-star-to-35758276
ii) https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/celebs-tv/gardeners-worlds-rachel-de-thame-10438532
iii) https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/showbiz-tv/bbc-gardeners-world-star-rachel-27443654
iv) https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/2097150/gardeners-world-star-cancer-update