I was really excited to be invited to a special workshop at RHS Wisley, entitled ‘Plants for the Future’, which brought together plant breeders, product developers, growers, national collection holders, plant licensing companies and other enthusiasts, all with the common interest of NEW PLANTS! The knowledge and skills in that room were quite phenomenal. I was asked to be on the panel too!
We had ‘cream of the crop’ speakers too, first up was Simon Crawford, who I admire for his horticultural networking, knowledge and eye for new plants.
His talk covered ‘breeding for the garden’, and interestingly explored the fact that plant breeding should give the home gardener a basket of options, not necessarily telling the gardener how to use a plant specifically.
He felt that the main important attributes were: visual impact, fragrance, sound (which is broader than you first imagine, such as the noise of bees…