The HBGBS seminar

It's been an intense full past 4-5 days but great. It was a chance to meet other trainees including ones who were doing the Professional Gardeners Guild scheme as well. We stayed at Dunford House which was a place that was full of living history itself - ex-home of Richard Cobden a man who was known for forming the Anti-Corn Law League in the 1830s, including a glasshouse built by Joseph Paxton (a small & modest one) and a real suffragette banner!

On Thursday & Friday evening each trainee presented a plant they had brought which they felt most represented their garden. Here are some of the highlights:

Wollemia nobilis - a rare plant that is classed as critically endangered was formerly only known in fossilized records until discovered in Australia in 1994. It can grow up to 25-40m. This is from Ness Botanical Gardens in Merseyside found and they grow it outside in a sheltered spot!

Banksia baxteri - an evergreen shrub that is from SW Australia and is popular in that country as a cut flower.

Athyrium filix-femina 'Victoriae' - this specimen is from the Garden House and is the only one that has been found in the wild in the UK. It was chanced upon in a farmers field.