News

MPG member Umberto Pasti has created a wild garden in north-west Morocco, pictured here courtesy of Ngoc Minh Ngo. The garden has two parts – an area with two cottages set among New World plants – cannas, cosmos, sunflowers, zinnias, tithonias and Amaryllis belladonna, with Moroccan flora on the hills, many species of irises and daffodils, hundreds of other bulbs, and strawberry trees, viburnums, brooms and rockroses. A life-long plant enthusiast, Umberto also has a town house and garden, the subject of a book The House of a Lifetime: A Collector’s Journey in Tangier, authored and illustrated by him and Ngoc Minh Ngo, where he has a museum-quality collection of treasures.

MPG’s Corfu tour in April provided material for gardener Jackie Hunt to plan three presentations she’ll give to horticultural groups about the gardens and wildflowers of the island, and ideas she took back to the dry garden where she works at Turn End near Aylesbury in southern England. Announcing the series of talks, Jackie acknowledged the expertise of guides, head gardeners, designers, garden owners and her fellow travellers on the tour. The first talk will be online on Thursday 26 September. Picture shows Jackie (left) and other members photographing plants in Old Perithia. Read more about Turn End here.

Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, founded in 1787, is to have a new editor-in-chief, our guest speaker at the Chelsea Physic Garden in 2017 John Grimshaw. John will take over from another remarkable botanist, Martyn Rix, in October. The magazine, otherwise known as Curtis’s Bot. Mag, is the world’s longest-running botanical publication, and John will be its 18th editor. It serves as a forum for horticulturists, botanists, plant ecologists and botanical illustrators. The image here is part of the title page of Vol. 3 (1845).

The annual general meeting was held on Wednesday 26 June, with elections to fill vacancies on the management committee. Candidates Gill Robinson, who had been secretary of the association for the past year, Sharon Horder, Anne Keenan and Michael Stearns were elected nem con. The meeting marked the end of the terms of office of Sue Tymon (pictured) who had chaired the committee since January 2019, and Maddy Hughes who chaired the tours committee for six years 2017 – 2023. Following the business session, members enjoyed a presentation by plantsman and writer Noel Kingsbury.

It was Medals Day today at the Chelsea Flower Show and our backer for the early-entry tickets, Jacques Amand International, has – exceptionally – won two Gold Medals. The company had two stands, one showing special hardy garden plants and the other tender indoor ones. MPG members arrived from 6.30 am and lapped up the atmosphere and gorgeous displays well before the crowds and rain. John Fielding’s image shows part of one of the Jacques Amand stands in the great pavilion.

Member Kate Burtonwood is one of the specialists in BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time today in a conversation with plantsman and garden designer Chris Beardshaw. Kate is head gardener at Trinity College, Oxford, where the new long border was redesigned by Chris. Listeners’ questions are dealt with by plant hunter Dr Chris Thorogood, who welcomed the MPG group to Oxford Botanic Gardens where he is head of science, at the start of our 2021 visit; Christine Walkden, and Chris Beardshaw. Kate was named earlier this year as one of the top 12 female gardeners by Gardens Illustrated.