WFGA Newsletter
Spring 2025
NEW GARDENS
Welcome to the following new training gardens:
Old Bowlish House
Hugo Burge Foundation
Stanley Hill Flowers
Hampnett House
The Dairy Studio
Meophams Bank
Care for Veterans
Sally Casley Garden Design
Capheaton Hall
The Stables
Clayton House
The Almonds
Brook House
Hankham Hall Cottage
Tyninghame Walled Garden
Home Close
The Barn, Serge Hill
The Hill
Hollytree Lodge
Pricilla Bacon Hospice
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde Hospitals
The team at Pelham Plants including all three past and present WRAGS trainees, with their Chelsea gold medal 2024
News, workshops, plants
Dear Members,
Spring is definitely one of my favourite times. There is so much to look forward to, and you’ll find a taster of what’s to come in our current newsletter.
We are so excited that Paul Seaborne and his team at Pelham Plants will be celebrating the WFGA at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. After their Gold medal win last year, we know it’s going to be a fantastic display! We’ll also be at Gardener’s World Live at the NEC again this year from 12th to 15th June. Seven of our trainees will be taking part in the Beautiful Borders competition and have been working tirelessly to turn their designs into reality. Please support them and come along and say hello.
There are some great articles about past workshops and events. These are a brilliant way to learn new skills or to brush up on old ones, as well as an opportunity to meet other keen gardeners in beautiful settings. Keep an eye on the website for our latest offerings.
Lastly, applications for the Christine Ladley Fund are now open for those wishing to develop their horticultural or agricultural careers, whether through training, educational trips or applying for resources.
Wishing you all happy gardening,
Sue Reed (Chair)
Cambo Gardens Snowdrop Tour
A late winter visit to Cambo’s iconic Georgian walled garden for a closer look at their national collection of snowdrops
On Saturday 8th February, a group of well wrapped-up WFGA members travelled to NorthEast Fife to tour Cambo Gardens’ national collection of snowdrops, with the expert insights of Head Gardener Callum Halstead. Despite the chilly weather, it was a wonderful afternoon uncovering the history, development and variations of the genus, celebrating a brilliant array of delicate blooms.
Calum demonstrating Snowdrops attract an almost obsessional interest, and, if I am honest, I have always wondered what all the fuss was about. While clearly beautiful, I did not understand how these unassuming white winter flowers could create such a frenzy. But after a fascinating deep-dive, I would happily now call myself a galanthophile.
While we only saw a small fraction of the collection of over 200 varieties at Cambo, the group were treated to a stunning diversity of well-tended cultivars, beautifully displayed in the winter gardens, ranging from the ridiculous (spikeys with random antlers) to the sublime (the immaculate seersucker-textured ‘Chequers’). We learnt about the reliable ‘Trumps’ and the wellknown, dour-faced ‘Grumpy’ as well as a few particular highlights:
G. ‘Richard Ayres’ - a ruffled double with neat inner segments.
G. ‘Cambo Sunshine’ - homegrown with a beautiful yellow ovary.
G. ‘Godfrey Owen’ - neat flower, almost narcissus-like, thanks to its six outer segments.
G. ‘Hörup’ - a large bloomed, tall variety with a face looking like a storm trooper peering out from the inner segments.
We also chatted about the obsession with breeding new varieties for sale - with the record being more than £1500 for a single bloom!
Rather than breeding, Callum talked about his interest in crawling through the woodland drifts in the woodlands of the garden to find naturally hybridising new varieties. This reminded us that true galanthophiles are not driven by high price eBay sales, but by the joy of close observation, spending time looking carefully at blooms and noticing the finer details up close.
Galanthus 'Hörup'
There was also opportunity to enjoy other beautiful winter plantings around the snowdrops in the gardens, from the Hamamelis in full bloom, to the thick scent of Sarcococca and the pussy willow catkins on a fluffy pink Japanese Salix gracilis “Mount Aso”.
Specialist seller Johnathan Harris was also on hand selling an unusual array of Galanthus from his collection - very tempting after the tour! After the walkabout, we warmed up with coffees and Cambo cake, and Callum gave us an entertaining talk on ‘Life After Snowdrops’.
The snowdrop genus has always been a bit of an enigma to me, but I get the obsession now. From here on in, I will be sure to crouch down and look more carefully, seeking out little faces, frills, or antlers. During the slower months of the gardening calendar, it is a gift to spend the extra hours noticing these flowers in more detail. This was time well-spent and a thoroughly enjoyable and informative afternoon. Thanks to WFGA for organising it.
Tierney Lovell – WFGA Member
Garden Recruitment Network
We know how important your garden is and finding the right people to work in it is critical. Our Garden Recruitment Network connects Garden Owners with dedicated, capable gardeners searching for their next role.
If you’re coming to the end of your WRAGs training or you’re an experienced professional looking for a new challenge, keep an eye on our members bulletins for the latest adverts.
You’ll find full detail of all the vacancies on our Members Forum.
Christine Ladley Fund
To commemorate the life of Christine Ladley, a funding initiative in education, travel and work experience has been established by the Trustees of the WFGA and our partner LarsOlav Nicolls.
The Fund will provide financial support of projects in both horticulture and agriculture with a desire to see those who seek training, reach and fulfil their goals. This funding is open to all WFGA members of 12 months standing and who are British citizens ordinarily resident with the UK.
Applicants are invited to present a strong case to receive funding for an activity in pursuit of a new career within the areas of horticulture and agriculture, which they would not otherwise be able to undertake.
The application form is now available on the website, and the closing date for applications is Friday 23rd May 2025. Please check the Members’ Forum for more information.
Pruning Roses at Ashburnham Place
A wintry workshop learning how to sharpen tools, and tackle the tricky and prickly task of pruning rambling and climbing roses
I always love to turn into the gates at Ashburnham Place and drive through the woodland, down the long sweeping curves of narrow road, across the stone bridge arriving in the wide and graceful vista of gardens, grassland, trees and lakes. It really is quite spectacular.
Much of the parkland and garden, covering over 200 acres, was laid out by landscape architect Capability Brown in the mid-18th century. In 1767 Brown was commissioned to do the landscaping and the work, which included the creation of three vast lakes, and took from 1767 to 1781. At that time much of the digging would have been done by hand and by local men who would return to their cottages (uphill!) in the evenings.
Jay Ashworth, the Ornamental Gardens Manager, looks after the gardens that radiate from the house. She manages a team of gardeners, volunteers and the current WRAGS
trainee Lesley Sealey, who all work hard to keep things looking gorgeous. We organised a group of WFGA members and friends to help prune the rambling and climbing roses that scramble over the walls of the ornamental gardens.
We assembled on a bitingly cold January morning and began, as we did the previous year, in the warm cosy dairy where we had a brief talk from Jay about the gardens and the roses. Simon Joynes, a WRAGS graduate, volunteers at Ashburnham and he kindly gave us a talk on cleaning secateurs and tools. I’d cleaned mine the day before, but I could see they weren’t up to standard!
Once outside we started with a demonstration from Jay followed by working on the roses ourselves. The roses have been there for many years and produce a spectacular display in the summer months, but they always need a little taming. It’s prickly work but satisfying – working out what to take out and what should stay,
Beautiful view of the lake
Jay demonstrating on the roses
pruning, loping off old dead wood and tying the long whippy growth into curls and waves.
We had such a good day with the team at Ashburnham. It’s always a pleasure working with them and Jay is a fantastic teacher. If you fancy visiting Ashburnham I would recommend it. You could perhaps go when they have the popular Farmers Market - the dates are usually on their website, and do get a coffee in the Orangery, designed by Brown, where you can admire one of the oldest camellias in England. Perhaps go in early summer when the roses will be in bloom, and you can check out the results of our pruning!
Sarah Farr
Regional Manager - East & West Sussex
waterproofs have been so useful and will see me through the winter as well with the right underlayers. The picture shows the items in use and in action at Blacklands.”
Hannah Becket
Monique Ramsay – WRAGS Alumni
The Wiltshire Gardens Trust Bursary
The Wiltshire Gardens Trust kindly decided to support our WRAGS Trainees working or living in the county of Wiltshire. Eligible members can apply to the Trust for Bursaries of up to £200 towards the costs of tools each year. Below are reports from the two beneficiaries this year, who as you can see are delighted with their new kit. To find out more about the work of your local Gardens Trust please visit their website https://thegardenstrust.org/support-us/findlocal-cgts/
Hannah Becket - WRAGS Trainee
“I was very grateful for the funding for some equipment to start me off on my gardening journey. The gardening gloves are in constant rotation and it's great to have spares so they can dry out and go in the wash in-between working days. The sunhats kept my skin protected during the hot summer months (that somehow feel very distant in today's cold weather) and the
“I spent my money on some Genus trousers (highly recommended by gardeners) and also some Felco shears. As I've learnt through experience, quality items will last a long time and will not need replacing so well worth the investment. In fact, the trousers I wear almost every day with padded knees, a space for secateurs and all-weather material, have proved invaluable.
Monique Ramsay
The shears I use in my second job which I started in May. I work for a company who maintains both large and smaller gardens in and around Wiltshire. Again, they are invaluable and have been spotted by other rather envious gardeners in the team!”
Self Propagation – Meet us and say “Hello”
The WFGA is like a closely guarded secret. If you know us, you are already here. It shouldn’t be like that though. We want to do more, and we want to reach more people. Improving your skills can be transformative and we want to offer that opportunity to everyone throughout England, Scotland and Wales.
So, in 2025 we are making a real effort to stand up and be seen. We are taking part in more events than ever before. We will also be developing our marketing so as the year progresses, we will be making positive changes to how we ‘look’ and ‘sound’ too.
We would love to see you at the events that we are attending, so please do come along and say “Hello”.
Trellis Conference
March 2025
Our Regional Managers, Jennifer Andrew (Scotland South West) and Caroline Straker (Scotland South), took a stand at the Trellis Therapeutic Horticulture Conference near Perth on 14 March. It was a brilliantly organised day for the 100 or so attendees, introduced by the impressive Fiona Thackeray, CEO of Trellis www.trellisscotland.org.uk, whose hard work and determination in the sector is making a real difference in Scotland.
Attendees booked three workshops during the day which ranged from the Therapeutic Impact of Community Gardening and a tour around a Smallholding Therapeutic Horticultural Project, to Willow Weaving and Creating a small Rock Garden. The conference presented an important opportunity for people to meet and share their stories and discover the variety of STH (Social Therapeutic Horticulture) projects being undertaken in the UK.
We were pleased to see Chelsea, ex-WRAGs trainee and now Head Gardener at Glasgow's Horatio's Garden, as well as current WRAGs
trainee Catherine at the conference. With a second placement due to start at Glasgow hospital gardens in April of this year we look forward to giving more trainees the opportunity to view therapeutic gardening as a potential career path within horticulture.
I enjoyed meeting Anna Baker Cresswell, founder of HighGround www.highground-uk.org which helps ex-Military to find jobs outdoors. Her next venture with Cath Manuel, one of Australia’s leading therapeutic horticulturalists, is the launch of Therapeutic Garden Tours (TG Tours) designed for professionals who want to learn and experience more of STH to take back to their own organisations. www.therapeuticgardens.com
Trellis, the home of therapeutic horticulture in Scotland continues to promote the values of gardening, plants and nature to wellbeing and health with a vision to enable excellent STH and its benefits to be available to everyone.
Caroline Straker, Regional Manager - Scotland South
Cornwall Garden Society Spring Flower Show Pelham Plants at the Chelsea Flower Show
Developing new opportunities in the South West
This year the WFGA is striving to make a mark in Cornwall. We have appointed a dedicated Regional Manager (Chrissy Ching) and early in April (5th & 6th) we attended The Cornwall Garden Society Spring Flower Show.
We had a great weekend meeting potential Members, Garden Owners and Head Gardeners from across the Duchy, and sharing with them all the ways in which the WFGA can contribute to training and careers.
We are looking forward to seeing this area develop so look out for news in our email updates.
Julia Thorne - Executive Officer
The WFGA is to be celebrated by Pelham Plants in the Grand Pavilion
Walton (last year WRAG trainee), Glenn
Paul
and
Paul Seaborne, owner of Pelham Plants and pictured above told us “Pelham Plants is very excited to be celebrating WFGA in their display at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025, after winning gold in 2024 with the sterling help of WRAGs students Rachel Walton and Phil Rankin.”
This year Pelham Plants’ display will reflect the changing focus of the WFGA over the years from agriculture to horticulture, and edibles to ornamentals, and illustrate how the WFGA provides vital support for people changing career paths. We wish them luck in highlighting the value of the WFGA and look forward to seeing them in the Grand Pavilion stand GPE070.
Sarah Farr, Regional Manager – South Coast
Rachel
(Paul’s husband),
Seaborne, Scarlett Wyrley-Birch (Paul’s very first WRAG trainee),
Phil Rankin (current WRAG trainee)
BBC Gardener’s World Live 12th-15th June – NEC
Birmingham
Last year the WFGA put forward some of our WRAGS Trainees to create Beautiful Borders for the annual competition run as part of BBC Gardener’s World Live at the NEC. This year we are returning with a further 7 borders!
Current trainees and recent alumni were invited to apply for a Beautiful Border supported by the WFGA, and the Trustees selected a small group to put forward for the competition. Each Beautiful Border has a unique character, and it has been wonderful to see the thought and inspirations behind them. The images herein give you an idea of the designs, and further descriptions can be seen on our website and on the BBC Gardener’s World Live website. So do come and meet us and our Beautiful Border participants at the NEC in June!
The Newborn Garden
Designed by Jane Eastwood
“The newborn garden is a private space for carers to feed their young babies. Created in association with Maternal Mental Health Alliance and inspired by my experience of postnatal anxiety, the garden creates a sense of enclosure, shielding users from the outside world, but allowing them to connect with one another.
Shade is cast by a leafy upper tier which is underplanted with perennials in muted colours. Between the seats in the s-shaped bench, grasses are used to veil the occupants so they can see and interact with one another while retaining their privacy.”
Nature’s Resilience
Designed by Hannah Becket
The contrasting worlds shown in this garden demonstrate how nature can help us heal the damage we have done to our planet. An arch links grey wasteland with lush, predominantly native flora/planting. Above ground, plants begin to reclaim damaged land, while the mycorrhizal network below connects trees and plants, sharing resources like human communities that thrive on mutual support.
Two central figures reach toward each other, symbolizing this exchange. Amongst the greenery, waste is composted, trees protected, and wildlife habitats flourish. Created with recycled materials, the garden encourages reflection on our responsibility for a sustainable future.
Super Blooms! A high-energy dry border for people, plants and pollinators
Designed by Rhoda Parry
This vibrant border celebrates the beauty of sunloving, dry-tolerant plants, including shrubs, herbaceous perennials, annuals, succulents, and grasses. Carefully selected to attract bees and butterflies, the plants thrive in an environment that supports local wildlife and encourages biodiversity. The border embraces innovative approaches to sand and gravel as both a planting medium and mulch, creating a sustainable and low-maintenance garden that thrives in dry conditions.
The undulating backdrop of the border draws inspiration from the East Sussex coastline where the designer lives, as well as from the extensive sand beds at a naturalistic garden where she is a WRAGS trainee. This design also focuses on the way water can be harnessed and utilised effectively. By creating habitats that support flying insects, amphibians, and birdlife, the garden serves as a nurturing space for both plants and wildlife, offering a harmonious balance of beauty and ecological purpose.
Putting Down Roots
Designed by Victoria Benjamin
“The ‘Putting Down Roots’ garden brings the warm tones and sunny climate of Southern California where I grew up, to the UK where I have lived for over 30 years.
The warm stepping stones are loosely set in gravel, for a casual, wild and contemporary feel, which, along with the terracotta pot with Aeoniums, reflect California courtyard aesthetics. The flower borders include droughttolerant plants native to California and the colour scheme is replete with warm oranges and complementary purples and greens, reminiscent of the Desert Garden at the Huntington Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California –one of my favourite gardens.”
Connecting With Nature: a sustainable haven for wildlife
Designed
by Sandrine Hughes
“Inspired by my own garden, I believe creating a wildlife-friendly space can be simple, rewarding, and sustainable.
As UK habitats shrink, gardens offer a chance to reconnect with nature and support biodiversity. Carefully curated plant choices, with a strong
focus on hardy perennials, ensure the garden flourishes with minimal intervention while providing essential resources for pollinators throughout the seasons.
Alongside a variety of plants, the garden features habitats like bug hotels, log piles, and a small pond, offering shelter and nesting opportunities. I hope this garden inspires others to create their own wildlife-friendly havens and connect more deeply with nature.”
Apple Core Values
Designed by Isabel Sabine
“My space explores how neighbours can create mini orchards in small gardens. By working together, a variety of cultivars can be planted for everyone to enjoy whilst still retaining each garden’s individual identity. Pollinators connect the gardens, enabling the different cultivars to blossom.
Human connections are created, from the initial planning – such as choosing the different cultivars for the gardens – through to the exchange of apple recipes and the sharing of a glass of homemade apple juice.”
From Mother to Maiden
Designed by Donna Sutton
“A border can be a place to express yourself, a place that sparks memories and inspiration. This border represents my transition from maiden to mother, and how the connections I have cultivated along the way have carved the path for me to pursue my career in horticulture when my priorities changed once I became a mother.
The annual plants represent my maiden phase where life could be fleeting and fast-paced. Then it transitions across the bridge that represents becoming a mother, and then into the perennial plants which represent the forever phases in my life.”
WFGA Marketing Review
The way we look and sound as a charity needs to reflect who we are. This is what we are working on in 2025
We have said that 2025 marks a change of pace for WFGA, that we want to stand out more, so that we can achieve more, but that isn’t just about going out there and talking to people. We are also taking a really good look at ourselves so that we better understand who we are and who we want to be. Living up to that comes from the way we work but also the way we look.
We have a long and unique history but in the modern world, as a small charity we are not that recognisable. Part of that stems from our acronyms. Anecdotal feedback was that WFGA and WRAGS were too similar and were confusing, which is holding us back, so we wanted to understand if there were other areas of our image that we should be looking at.
It was evident early on in this introspective phase that we needed some professional advice, so we invested in the help of The Co-Foundry to review our marketing.
In December they ran a survey of members to see what you thought. They also interviewed a group of Garden Owners and Head Gardeners to understand their perspective, and finally there was a workshop for the Trustees, staff and representatives of the Regional Managers.
The results of an exercise like this will always highlight very differing perspectives, but this is how we learn.
Historic
We are proud of our history and as members this is important to you as well. Many responses reflected a keen interest in preserving our heritage.
“I am proud to be following in a tradition of practical hands-on skills going back to the Land Girls.”
You also told us that you valued the contribution that placements and training events made to the preservation of historic gardens and landscapes.
The historic also came through negatively as well. We are a bit old fashioned, and our website is desperately in need of updating. We agree.
Hands On
We know our practical approach to learning is what makes us unique, and the survey showed us that this is valued by members as well as the Garden Owners and Head Gardeners. They enjoy being able to focus on the physical tasks and that sharing of skills is positive for everybody.
“The opportunity to work in a beautiful garden with skilled individuals…It gives you a real insight into what it means to work in horticulture.”
One area that was highlighted was that where we hold events, they bring real benefits. However, there are areas where we don’t have enough happening and this is part of what we are working hard to address this year.
Titles
The WFGA has evolved from our origins as a women’s charity to the broader charity we are today. Part of this legacy is a collection of acronyms that can be tricky to say and even
harder to understand. Some are aware of WRAGS but don’t understand that WFGA is the organisation that runs the Scheme
“The name does nothing to spread your message or enhance your image.”
The Trustees have spent time looking into this and the issue will be an important part of how we present ourselves for the future. We concluded that changing the name would not be helpful, but we could be clearer in how we talk about ourselves.
Connections
As members you value the opportunity to meet other people in similar situations and networking is important to how we grow careers.
“We’ve been able to pass on our knowledge to a younger generation, while they have enriched our lives, enriched our garden and hopefully gained a great deal from their time here.”
As well as events we will be looking at how we enable conversations and share information. We will also be looking to improve our connections with other horticultural organisations. Our WRAGS now have free membership of the CIH (Chartered Institute of Horticulture) and we will be developing our connections and network wherever we can benefit our membership.
As this project develops, we will share with you the changes we are making. The next couple of years offer so much opportunity so follow us and spread the word!
Julia Thorne - Executive Officer
WRAGS Alumni
Part of our networking in the future will include better visibility of where our alumni take their future careers. We are very proud of those that have gone on to become Head Gardeners but there are many more that have developed their careers in other directions.
If you have successfully completed a WRAG Scheme placement, be sure to include it in your LinkedIn profile and let others know what you have achieved.
The Merlin Trust Bursaries
In 2024 The Merlin Trust chose to offer grants to current WRAG Scheme trainees to support their training and further career development. We are delighted that six were offered grants and that the Trust has decided to renew their offer in 2025. They were so delighted with our applications that this year they will be increasing the pot available so that they can help more of our trainees.
Further details of the application process will be sent to eligible trainees in May and the application window will be in June.
Reports from previous recipients are available on The Merlin Trust’s own website.
Poulton Hall Trained Fruit Workshop
One of our trainees writes about her experience wiring, planting and learning about formative pruning in a recent workshop in the Wirral
The walled fruit garden: As a recent WRAGS graduate developing my passion for fruit production in domestic spaces, this was the workshop I had been waiting for.
Kate Nicoll our regional manager comes with a vast skill set in this area and along with the experience that David James, head gardener at Poulton Hall brings, I was looking forward to grasping the fundamentals of starting trained fruit trees against permanent structures.
The day started with some friendly introductions and Kate gave us an overview of the historical context of trained fruit, understanding planting aspects, tree forms and some older methods of training the trees such as the Georgian technique of tagging using nails and pieces of linen.
David gave us some perspective on the walls of Poulton Hall, their history and their current condition. He explained the challenges he faced with some of the walls with their buttresses detaching from the walls and also some walls were particularly vulnerable. A lot of the old trees were now under performing and this gave David and his team a perfect opportunity to think of new planting against some of these walls.
With the basic principles covered, we headed out to the garden which is a delightful place where venerable planting in playful themes that Roger Lancelyn Green’s associations with his literary friends such as C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and Lewis Carroll all play out.
David showed us some of the wiring systems he has used and gave us an overview on what he considered would work in the garden. He explained that for the walls at Poulton Hall which were very long, he found the Gripple system to be most convenient and robust. He also showed us some further options and his technique of keeping the steel wire from staying wavy and causing problems with kinking. We then headed to a wall that was being wired for some new cherry trees. Here we observed David and his team install the Gripple system and got a good understanding of the practical side of the work required.
Photography courtesy of Cathy Hastie
After lunch we all headed to the free-standing cordons of apples and pears. Here I was familiar with some of the trees, as I had previously attended the summer and winter pruning skills days and had worked on these trees. As some trees needed replacing, this was a good opportunity to plant some good local varieties. We planted 2 of ‘Millicent Barne’ and ‘Sure Crop’ each as cordons. David guided us into the planting, explaining how to use bamboo canes at the right angle (generally 45°) and tie in the whip to the cane.
We ended with a small discussion on formative pruning, maintenance pruning and a walk around the garden looking at some other wall trained plants such as an old Wisteria and discussed some potential problems in maintaining wall trained plants. The day covered many fundamentals that are needed for walled fruit production.
Rehana Jawadwala - WRAGS Alumni
WFGA Annual General Meeting
31st May 2025
Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of the WFGA will be held at 11:00am, Saturday 31st May at Winterbourne House & Gardens.
AGENDA
Chairman's Welcome
Minutes of the 2024 AGM
Matters Arising
Chairman's Report
Treasurer Finance Report for 2024 Adoption of the Annual Report and Accounts Election of Trustees
Any Other Business / General Discussion
The minutes of the 2024 AGM are available to all on the Forum on the WFGA website.
The 2024 Financial Report will be available on the Forum by 30th April. If you would prefer a printed copy, please contact the office.
The AGM will be followed with a talk by Advolly Richmond and the presentation of certificates to recent WRAGS Alumni. There will be a light lunch and tour of the garden to finish the day.
Tickets to the event are free but limited and will be issued via lottery. To register your interest please book via the AGM event on the website.
Those not able to attend in person will be able to participate in the AGM via on-line meeting.
Please register your interest by 12pm noon on Friday 2nd May. You will also be able to nominate a proxy if you are unable to attend.
Thank you.
Photography courtesy of Cathy Hastie
Women in Horticulture
As a new Regional Manager dedicated to Cornwall, Chrissy Ching feels it is important to make contacts in the horticultural community within the Duchy.
I gave a talk on 23rd January for the Rosewarne Garden Club, which meets at the Rosewarne Campus, Duchy College. I was invited to give a talk by Bill Herring who is their Chairman and previously head of horticulture at Duchy College before retirement. He (like me) has come out of retirement to carry on working in the industryresearching the brassica crops for Riviera Produce consisting of 9,000 acres of Cornish farmland.
The subject of my talk was "Women in Horticulture" in which I discussed the history of women’s place within horticulture and some of the influential figures. We are used to seeing women at the forefront of garden design and the horticultural world with Jekka McVicar, Carol Klein and others now household names.
Gertrude Jekyll
But women’s contribution to the garden has not always been appreciated. I discussed the text, The Gardeners Labyrinth (1577) by Thomas Hyll, which shared the superstitions, believed by many, that women could cause crops to fail. But
this did not stop women being employed as women “weeders”!
I chose a number of women, some recognisable and some not so well known. I included Barbara, Countess of Coventry who despite her husband’s 30-year work with Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown creating the landscape garden at Croome Park, in Worcestershire. Barabara gained hardly any recognition for her influence on the landscape garden. She was part of a syndicate that funded plant hunters to bring seed of new and exotic plants that were propagated and grown. I like to think she introduced colour to the otherwise green landscape.
I discussed Jane Loudon, married to the famous J.C. Loudon and who wrote the influential book “Mrs Loudon’s Gardening for Ladies (1840)”.
Ellen Willmott, the gardening “bad girl” famous for spreading the seed of Eringium giganteum ‘Miss Wilmott’s Ghost’ and accused of snubbing her RHS Victoria Medal of Honour, when she was actually suffering from a broken heart. She in
Barbara, Countess of Coventry
fact bankrupted herself with her horticultural obsession, growing over 100,000 different species of plants.
I also included, among others, Gertrude Jekyll, Rosemary Verey, Joy Larkcom and Pippa Greenwood.
This led me to discuss the formation of horticultural colleges and education for women. The formation of the Women’s Agricultural and Horticultural Union (WAHU) in 1899 which eventually became the WFGA as we know it. Notwithstanding the importance of the Women’s Land Army during WW1 and WW2.
Before the official formation it was labelled “The Lilac Sunbonnet Brigade” by some and publicly by a member of the Launceston (Cornwall) Board of Guardians. I think that the ladies may have proved them wrong!
Chrissy Ching Regional Manager - Cornwall
DISCOUNTED RHS STUDENT MEMBERSHIP FOR WRAG TRAINEES
All WRAGS trainees are entitled to Student Membership of the Royal Horticultural Society and/or the Chartered Institute of Horticulture. The details are contained in the WRAGS Trainee pack. Please use the information in there or contact membership@rhs.org.uk
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Ellen Wilmott