Programme 2019-2020
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Bringing the Mediterranean into your Garden
Thursday 10th October, 2019
7.30pm
Olivier Filippi, Nurseryman, Pepiniere Filippi
Olivier Filippi and his wife Clara run a specialist nursery in the South of France, dedicated to drought tolerant plants.
The couple started their research in the 1980s and since then have travelled extensively throughout the Mediterranean and similar climate regions around the world to study plant adaptation in these areas.
Experience in the wild and their own garden has given them an unique understanding of the needs of plants in a dry climate.
Olivier is a photographer and author of several books including The Dry Gardening Handbook and Bringing the Mediterranean into your Garden: How to Catch the Natural Beauty of the Garrigue.
Succession Planting in the Mixed Border
Wednesday 20th November, 2019
7.30pm
Fergus Garrett, Head Gardener, Great Dixter.
In 1992 Fergus became Head Gardener at Great Dixter, working closely with Christopher Lloyd until Christopher's death in 2006.
Since then he has been Chief Executive of the Great Dixter Charitable Trust.
Fergus works full-time, hands on, in the garden as well as writing and lecturing across the world.
He will be sharing his knowledge in maintaining a spectacular mixed border throughout the year.
Things that turn me on - Confessions of a Plant Freak
Wednesday 4th December, 2019
7.30pm
Nick Macer, Nurseryman, Pan-Global Plants
In 1997 Nick Macer founded Pan-Global Plants, a specialist nursery in Gloucestershire. He has travelled the world to find plants for his unique nursery which supplies many significant gardens throughout the UK.
He will be telling us why he is obsessed with plants and which ones particularly excite him.
Compost, Brews and Tinctures - a New Look at Soil
Thursday 23rd January, 2020
7.30pm
Joshua Sparkes , Head Gardener, Forde Abbey
Joshua spent a month in America to fully immerse himself in a new way of working. He says 'we need to change because our climate is changing'.
He feels that we now need to question everything we do, the plants we grow, and how we grow them.
He will be telling us about soils and some of the secrets of making rich composts and fertilisers for future gardening success.
Drawn To See
Monday February 17th, 2020
Sarah Simblet - Botanical Artist, co-author of The New Sylva
Dr Sarah Simblet is a fine artist, writer, broadcaster and anatomist. She is the Ruskin's Visiting Tutor of Anatomy.
Inspired by John Evelyn's Sylva, the world's first comprehensive study of trees, silvologist Gabriel Hemery and artist Sarah have created a breathtaking contemporary version, intertwining science, art and history.
The New Sylva describes the tree species that play a significant part in today's society.
Sarah is dedicated to sharing and encouraging visual intelligence in others.
Gardening the Millennium Forest
Monday 9th March, 2020
7.30pm
Midori Shintani, Head Gardener, Tokachi Millennium Forest, Hokkaido, Japan
Midori trained in horticulture and landscape architecture at Minami Kyushu University in Japan.
After time in Sweden she returned to Japan and is now Head Gardener of the Millennium Forest.
The Forest was originally established to offset carbon footprints, by the Tockachi Newspaper Co.
Midori will introduce the whole picture of the unique modern garden movement in Japan and share how she and her team take care of the native forest and cultivated garden area.
Cancelled due to Coronavirus
Replacement talk
'Summer Flowers from Seed'
Derry Watkins, Special Plants, Cold Ashton
'Derry Watkins is mad about plants, and you can see this in her ever-evolving collection. The nursery, small, compact and overflowing, spills almost imperceptibly into Derry's garden, which billows downhill and away below the house'.............Dan Pearson, The Observer.
American Garden meets English Landscape
Tuesday 7th April, 2020
7.30pm
Andrew Cannell, Head Gardener, American Museum, Bath
Wisley trained Andrew will describe the recent developments in the gardens of the American Museum.
The project revamped the George Washington 1799 colonial Upper Garden and developed the New American Garden with its bold swathes of grasses and perennials.
Andrew will tell us how these two projects came to be and how they sit within the tranquil and quintessentially English setting of the Midford valley.
Cancelled due to Coronavirus
Inspired by Nature - The New Perennial Movement
Tuesday 12th May, 2020
7.30pm
Cassian Schmidt, Director, Hermannshof Gardens, Germany
Cassian has over 25 years of experience as a professional horticulturalist.
At the Hermannshof Gardens he has been focussing on natural plant communities (mainly North American prairie and Eastern European steppe) as models for new sustainable plant combinations for the urban environment.
Cancelled due to Coronavirus