Property News · April 1, 2017

Me and my garden: ‘I get very emotional about plants’


Roy Lancaster, plantsman, Chandler’s Ford, HampshireAs a boy, I’d go off into the moors just above my home in Bolton. I’d find interesting birds, and wander farther and farther afield each time. I was returning from a bird walk one day when I passed an allotment. I looked over the fence and this very different plant was growing in a patch of potatoes. I was moved to climb the fence and pick a bit – it was very sticky. I became known as the boy who found the Mexican tobacco, Nicotiana rustica: it was only the second recorded occurrence of this plant wild in the British Isles. I thought, if it’s that easy, what might I find if I really try?When I was curator at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, I saw it as my big garden. Once I left the arboretum, I wanted my own collection; a garden under my nose. That way, if I was writing about plants I was growing and I needed to check – did it have a hairy leaf? Were the flowers really dark pink in bud? – I could just go outside and look. Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
Read more…Me and my garden: ‘I get very emotional about plants’

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