HortWeek Podcast

TV gardener and podcaster Lee Connolly talks about his Schools Gardening Success Plan which aims to help every primary school in the country run a school gardening programme by 2025.

Skinny Jean Gardener Lee puts above the ego-boosting TV work, which includes stints on CBBC and an educational slot on David Attenborough's Green Planet series.

HortWeek editor Matthew Appleby and Lee discuss the heated topic of peat in horticulture and speculation (aired on Lee's own podcast) of the existence of a 'peat mafia' holding back moves to peat-free. 

He tells of his "joke" application for the position of RHS director general, a position he warmed to as the application progressed, as well as his hopes to showcase a balcony garden at this year's Chelsea Flower show.

And as flared trousers threaten a comeback in men's fashion, he vows never to give up his skinny jeans and chooses his Desert Island Plant.

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International pheromone systems' Dr Sam Jones is an expert in the use of pheromones for biocontrol in horticulture.

Using his knowledge of chemistry and insect behaviour he works to develop new and improved products for the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) market. 

In this episode of the Horticulture Week podcast, Dr Jones explains how biocontrols work, the use of pheromones and semiochemicals, attracting beneficial insects and how an ecological balance is maintained.

He reveals novel solutions he is working on, including the use of sound on apple codling moths, work to address emerging pests and smart traps as well as how he maximises the variety of plant and animal species in his own garden and of course, his own Desert Island Plant. 

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In this episode Hortweek editor Matthew Appleby turns the questions on pioneering horticultural podcaster and TV and garden designer Peter Donegan.

Donegan presented the Sodshow for years in the days "when podcasting wasn't 'a thing'" and is the series garden designer for RTE television’s DIY SOS The Big Build Ireland. 

He gives us his view on garden design trends, reveals how 1980s TV show the 'A' Team resonates with him to this day, and struggles valiantly to name his own Desert Island Plant.

In April 2019 he designed at RHS Flower Show Cardiff in 2020 and but he speaks about the ups and downs designers can face having experienced disappointment himself when a garden planned for RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show was subsequently cancelled because of the pandemic.

Selected to represent Ireland to design and realise the Irish WW1 Centenary Peace Garden in France in 2018, Donegan speaks about his plans to return to design there again in 2022. 

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Garden designer, writer and chair of the John Brookes-Denmans Foundation, Van Paasschen is working on a new initiative to perpetuate the legacy of the late John Brookes who, she argues, is probably more influential than ever in garden design circles. She discusses his design legacy and the work to renovate and preserve his work at Denmans Gardens, West Sussex.

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Famous for having been kidnapped in 2000 in Columbia during a plant hunting expedition, Hart Dyke stayed sane by collecting orchids and other jungle plants which later formed part of the design of World Garden in the form of a world map which he and an army of volunteers look after at Lullingstone Castle in Kent. 

Tom tells the Horticulture Week Podcast about the challenges of tending his World Garden, the effects of climate change and his view on peat. He discusses his return to Colombia, his cousin TV's Miranda Hart, and his joy at the rise of the houseplant...and reveals his desert island plant.

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Ben Raskin, head of horticulture and agroforestry at the Soil Association, explodes a few myths around woodchip. He tells HortWeek editor Matthew Appleby about the untapped possibilities afforded by woodchip for growers and landscapers at any scale, from farm to garden to greenhouse.

After a Horticulture Week survey which found 76% horticulturists want to keep peat, Raskin proposes a realistic way forward to a peat-free future and he outlines

the bright future he sees for agroforestry with nut trees a particular area for research.

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Grower, garden retailer, journalist, QVC presenter and founder of the Garden Press Event and horticultural charity, Greenfingers Richard Jackson guests on this episode of the Horticulture Week Podcast.

Jackson, of Richard Jackson Garden founded the Greenfingers Charity and the Garden Press Event and has worked for some of the biggest names in the horticulture industry and a broadcaster for QVC he popularised TV garden shopping in the UK.

Jackson tells HortWeek editor Matthew Appleby how he found his way into horticulture including the huge influence of plantsman Roy Lancaster who "ignited my passion for plants".

He shares his passion for his work to help long-term unemployed youngsters, how to attract more into the industry, his views on the future for the sector as well as the thinking behind his new award-winning plantcare range.

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With more than half a century of plantsman's knowledge and a VMH in 1986, legendary plantsman Adrian Bloom has reissued his book Bloom's Best Perennials and Grasses 10 years after its first publication.

He chooses 400 perennials and grasses and makes 64 timeless selections and 12 top plants, narrowed down to plants including a hellebore, bergenia, miscanthus, brunnera, hosta, sedum, crocosmia, rubeckia and 'plant of the millenium' Geranium 'Rozanne', which he was instrumental in introducing. Bloom discusses the value of these plants, and Bressingham introductions to the gardener and plantarea manager but warns that there are "far too many" new plants being introduced these days.

Bloom talks about plant launches, the history of Blooms at Bressingham, its 2026 centenary and a wide range of matters of horticulture interest, including his international perspective from his US experiences and his appeal for grafters to not be lost to gardening.

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After working and playing hard in noughties London, Perrywood Garden Centre's communications & HR director Hannah Powell turned to nature to heal after suffering from a "functional neurological disorder".

She tells the Horticulture Week podcast how "using nature to fix a faulty brain" and how "getting out into nature" was instrumental in her recovery and can be harnessed by everyone to improve their well-being.

Hannah returned to the Perrywood Tiptree garden centre and nursery in Essex where she grew up, got a degree in horticulture, and now dedicates herself to looking after the employees at Tiptree and the Perrywood Sudbury garden centre in Suffolk.

She talks about her new book The Cactus Surgeon which talks about the unique experience of growing up in a garden centre, but also how her experience has led her to value the mental and physical health of staff at the garden centres, offering free physio screenings to help prevent injuries, providing free counselling days, occupational health referrals and mental health awareness training for managers which has helped the company reduce sick days. Staff feel more valued and cared for, a factor that could also help with staff retention in a time of labour shortages.

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We Too Built Britain's Zehra Zaidi and Harkness Roses' David White have launched the John Ystumllyn rose, named after the first well-recorded black Welsh gardener and believed to be the first rose named after an ethnic minority Briton.

Horticulture Week editor Matthew Appleby interviews the pair about the new rose and it's potential impact. Zaidi’s Horticulture Week article in July 2020 on John Ystumllyn created a groundswell of support for a new rose. 

Horticulture Week advised on finding a rose grower and in helping promote the project.

Ystumllyn was an 18th centiry Welshman of uncertain origin, possibly a victim of the Atlantic slave trade who was taken by the Wynn family to its Ystumllyn estate in Criccieth, where he became a gardener.

Zaidi says: "It came about because of a lack of diversity in gardening;" the history about minorities in gardening might not be remembered, so Zaidi approached HortWeek and the story was shared, people called for a rose, "before we knew it we had a campaign".

"The representation element matters. To our knowledge there has never been a rose named after an ethnic minority Briton."

She adds that the rose is "a symbol of friendship, love and community because that's what John's story represented.. and a homage to the gardening community. I hope this brings people together."

The rose was chosen from 40,000 seedlings and is a  compact floribunda shrub, developed from eight years breeding, with a citrus fragrance, flowering from late May until the first frosts. It is suitable for pots, beds and border and will be at Harkness' exhibit at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023 and in garden centres from autumn 2022.

Zaidi concludes: "Horticulture has been joyous, such a welcoming community. This campaign shows we take each other for granted, sometimes you just have to ask and build connections together."

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