About Us

Mediterranean Plants and Gardens is a not-for-profit association of people who share an interest in the flora and gardens of Mediterranean climates embracing concepts of sustainable gardening such as matching plant species intelligently to their environment and giving attention to economical use of water.

Our Management Committee

Sue Tymon (Chairman)

After a career in the London reinsurance market, I became more interested in plants when I became a homeowner. Frustration at not being able to solve my own garden problems led me to become a professional garden designer. After 20 years I have now retired and am looking forward to digging my own plot here in the UK and spending more time at our home in the Ionian island of Meganisi Greece. I became involved in the Management Committee to give back to the organisation. I have found that MPG is a welcoming, inclusive place and I thoroughly enjoy all it has to offer.

David Mason (Treasurer)

After a 30-year career in Information Technology with ICI, I retired in 2008. We love to travel and until recently had a house in the south of France where we spent part of the year. I have various voluntary occupations, including being treasurer of MPG and treasurer of Berwick Parish Church Trust. We moved to the Scottish Borders in 2019 from Kensington, where I was the director responsible for finance for our housing development. I also assisted a former colleague in writing software for a new aircraft instrument he has developed.

Gill Robinson (Secretary)

I am an architect, and ran an architectural practice in Manchester until I retired. As well as setting up Women in Property in the north, I was on the boards of Keele University and a housing association. We live and garden in Cheshire, and have restored an old olive mill in Provence, where we have been creating a garden. Visits to Mediterranean gardens with MPG, MGF and MGS have provided inspiration and ideas for this project.

Stephen Cole (Tours Committee Chairman)

London born and bred, I inherited a love of gardens from visits to my grandparents who lived in Kew, and I developed a love of the Mediterranean from a visit to Crete as a teenager. I’ve had a varied career in computer system development, small business management, still life advertising photography, and local authority allotment management, but I’ve given all that up to see more of the Med, which is why you find me here now.

John Fielding

I’m a professional horticulturist who trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. In the scope of my work I’m a photographer, author, lecturer, garden designer and plant breeder, and grow a wide range of plants including many bulbous from the Mediterranean and particularly Crete. With Nick Turland and Brian Mathew I produced the book Flowers of Crete published by RBG Kew. I’m also a committee member of the Royal Horticultural Society involved in judging shows and plant trials.

Maddy Hughes

I retired from a career with a major international bank in 2016. Since then I have travelled widely and had the time to enjoy more extensively my outdoor interests which include hill and mountain walking, visiting gardens, and archaeological and historic sites. I lived and worked in Greece from 2010-2013 during which time I enjoyed exploring both the Peloponnese and the Cyclades. My husband, Geoff, and I currently have two gardens in Yorkshire; Geoff is the more active gardener. I also undertake voluntary activities with Yorkshire Gardens Trust.

Heather Martin

After a career as a journalist in Venezuela, Canada and the Middle East I ran a company providing administrative, legal and accounting services for not-for-profit associations. I love the Mediterranean and enjoy going off the beaten track to look for indigenous plants. I was the first chairman of the management committee and enjoy helping MPG flourish as a friendly open association, bringing together those keen on Mediterranean plants and gardens on trips in the Mediterranean basin, UK visits and meetings, and through its website.