In the 1911 children’s book, The Secret Garden, English novelist Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote that, “If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.” Alan Gardner, an award-winning garden designer who also hails from across the pond, is taking a leaf out of Mrs. Burnett’s book. He’s bringing what he’s learned in the garden—that his autism is an advantage—out into the world. As the host of The Autistic Gardener, which premiered  in 2015 on Britain’s Channel 4 broadcasting station, Gardner oversaw a team of five talented novice gardeners, all on the autism spectrum, as they designed and built gardens for four clients. Since then, Gardner has worked to improve employment opportunities for autistic adults, who are severely underemployed. Gardner is also the creator of 40 Royal Horticultural Society gardens and has won awards at the society’s Chelsea, Hampton Court, and Tatton Park flower shows. SIERRA spoke with the celebrated designer by phone about his passion for gardening, what it’s like to host a reality TV show, and his efforts to increase visibility for autistic adults in the media.

How did you get your start as a garden designer?

When I was 15 years old, I pestered my mother and father to buy me a cactus. They did and I grew it on the windowsill because we can't grow cacti outside here in England. Then I came across a seed catalogue and that was the end of that; I ripped the entire garden up, and I've been gardening ever since.

What's the best part of designing a new garden?

I have Asperger's Syndrome, so I see everything in pictures, and I see everything three-dimensionally. When I’m designing a garden, I can lie in bed and shut my eyes and walk around in it. My Asperger's also means that I tend to like rules, and gardening is very rule-based. So I like the whole process from coming up with the concept to drawing it, and then the contractors build it and we see it when it's finished. And then the garden just continues to grow. I like to go back to a garden I’ve designed and see how things have altered, because a garden is a piece of art that will change over time.

Is there one golden rule of gardening that you live by?

Choose the right plants for the right situation. People buy plants because they look pretty—they don't look into if a plant needs sun, shade, moisture, dryness. If you’re in California where plants are drought resistant and it's quite sunny and you've chosen a plant that likes moisture and shade, it will be dead in a matter of days. So, to get things to flourish you have to choose the right plant for the right situation.

How did The Autistic Gardener come into being?

Someone at Channel 4 with an autistic son came up with the idea for a program about how horticulture could benefit autistic people. That concept eventually turned into a garden makeover series with a team of five people who are on the autism spectrum creating gardens for four clients.

The participants had all gardened in their own gardens, but this show took them out of that comfort zone. It really showed the talents these young lads and girls had and could actually bring to the table. We had one young lad called Thomas who was 18 and very shy. He could hardly get his words out—it was like he had a mental stammer. But he could mark out a garden from a drawing with ease, which is a very difficult thing to do—to take a drawing, scale it, and put it onto the ground. By the final episode, he was actually leading the team. He's now gone on to horticultural college. We're very proud of him.

It's rare to see autistic adults with successful careers represented in the media. Do you think the show has helped increase visibility for autistic adults?

The show had a very, very wide impact. Although autistic people can be very talented in what we do, we don't exactly come across as brilliant in job interviews because a lot of us have social problems—for example, some of us don't make eye contact. I'm cultural ambassador for the UK National Autistic Society, and we're looking to change the way people apply for jobs and the way they do interviews to make it more of a level playing field for people who are autistic.

What will your next project be?

I'm working on a big project with Channel 4—it's a garden design series, which we will start filming at the end of May. The Autistic Gardener could have never been seen again, but Channel 4 liked me and they want me to continue forward as a presenter who is autistic, but for a show that isn’t about autism, which is really special. People will watch it, and they’ll know that I've got autism. But we're not going to talk about autism, we're going to talk about garden design. It's a step forward.

What’s your favorite plant for the Spring?

My favorite plants go by the day; I need a 20-acre garden to grow everything that I want to grow. But today I'd say passion flowers. They're a climbing plant, and they have very, very intricate blooms that come in so many different colors. You also get the passion fruit on them. They are so beautiful.