Simon Gulliver - The Plant Hunters

On Tuesday January 12th 2021 our members were joined by some of the Clwyd Group for a Zoom lecture. Visual lectures cannot replace our regular meetings but they are the best alternative at the moment! Simon Gulliver covered ‘The Plant Hunters’ and showed how gardeners must be so grateful for the wealth of plants that we can now enjoy. Only 20% of these are native and most of the others originate from countries in the northern hemisphere.

Previously the plant hunter searched for possible commercial crops as did John Tradescant the Elder, who brought back Larch trees and Scarlet Runner Beans. The younger Tradescant introduced many of our favourite plants such as the Tulip Tree, Robinia, the Lebanon Cedar and the Oak, the latter being needed for boats for the Navy. Others like Robert Fortune later brought back more exotic specimens such as Orchids and Camellias. Many of the bulbs came from Turkey and Tulips became one of the first horticultural craze. Later Kew came to the fore as a leading Botanical Garden. Through to the present day plants have always had a fascination for keen horticulturists to track down and find different species. The late Jim Archibald and his wife Jenny, John Hinkley of Heronswood Nursery in Washington and Bleddyn Wynn-Jones of Crug Farm Nursery are plant hunters who have brought many of their found treasures to our gardens.

The Group will have joined the Clwyd group this Tuesday for a Zoom lecture by Alan Pascoe entitled ‘Create a Garden for All Seasons’. Rutland will be staging another lecture on February 9^th at 730pm by Sarah Pajwani named ‘The Winter Garden’.