Where did our Favourite ‘English’
Garden Plants come from ?
This talk looks at the origins of some of our favourite quintessentially ‘English’ garden plants :
- A look at some early introductions from the Romans which we still
love and continue to grow today - Plants brought back from the Crusades including medicinal and
decorative plants - Elizabethan plant hunters who accidentally introduced us to
potatoes and tobacco ! - The English gardener responsible for the fashion for Tulip ‘Semper Augustus’
and it’s impact on Dutch and gardening history - Todays favourite garden plants from Victorian nurseries sourced
inChina and Japan
This talk is about some of our favourite ‘English garden plants’ that were deliberately introduced to Great Britain over decades of history.
The talk starts with some early Roman introductions and concludes with some of the plants that the Victorian plant hunters made firm favourites in our ‘English’ gardens.
You may be surprised to find out that several of the plants we consider to be ‘our favourite English garden plants’ were actually introduced to us from many countries around the world including China, South America, the Middle East and the Ukraine.
The talk ends with a ‘fun quiz ‘ where informal groups of attendees are challenged to identify the country of origin for 12 of our favourite garden plants. This talk tends to last for 50 minutes plus the time for the fun quiz – generally about 10 minutes !
“Thank you so much for your Talk on Favourite Plants to our gardening club …. I think everyone was surprised to find out how far and wide the plants in our gardens, which we know and love, have come. We really appreciate your highly professional presentation with humour and anecdotes and the quiz which all of our members seemed to enjoy”
(West Chinnock Gardening Club, Somerset)
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