The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity.
Dr. Wilfred Edward Shewell-Cooper was a British organic gardener and pioneer of no-dig gardening. He wrote and published several books, including Soil, Humus and Health (1975), The Royal Gardeners (1952), Grow Your Own Food Supply (1939), and The ABC of Vegetable Gardening (1937). In 1966, he founded the Good Gardeners Association. For many years, his gardens at Arkley Manor were open to the public, allowing the results of his no-dig methods, indicated by a symbol featuring a robin resting on a spade handle, to be seen first-hand.
Linacre College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the UK whose members comprise approximately 50 fellows and 550 postgraduate students.
Alan Fred Titchmarsh HonFSE is an English gardener and broadcaster. After working as a professional gardener and a gardening journalist, he became a writer, and a radio and television presenter.
Gardeners' Question Time is a long-running BBC Radio 4 programme in which amateur gardeners can put questions to a panel of experts.
Chartwell is a country house near Westerham, Kent, in South East England. For over forty years it was the home of Sir Winston Churchill. He bought the property in September 1922 and lived there until shortly before his death in January 1965. In the 1930s, when Churchill was out of political office, Chartwell became the centre of his world. At his dining table, he gathered those who could assist his campaign against German re-armament and the British government's response of appeasement; in his study, he composed speeches and wrote books; in his garden, he built walls, constructed lakes and painted. During the Second World War, Chartwell was largely unused, the Churchills returning after he lost the 1945 election. In 1953, when again prime minister, the house became Churchill's refuge when he suffered a debilitating stroke. In October 1964, he left for the last time, dying at his London home, 28 Hyde Park Gate, on 24 January 1965.
Graham Stuart Thomas was an English horticulturist, who is likely best known for his work with garden roses, his restoration and stewardship of over 100 National Trust gardens and for writing 19 books on gardening, many of which remain classics today. However, as he states in the Preface to his outstanding book, The Rock Garden and its Plants: From Grotto to Alpine House, "My earliest enthusiasms in gardening were for....alpines." p8
In horticulture, bolting is the production of a flowering stem on agricultural and horticultural crops before the harvesting of a crop, at a stage when a plant makes a natural attempt to produce seeds and to reproduce. The flowering stems are usually vigorous extensions of existing leaf-bearing stems; to produce them, a plant diverts resources from producing the edible parts, resulting in changes in flavor and texture, withering, and in general, a poor-quality harvest. Plants that have produced flowering stems in this way are said to have bolted. Crops inclined to bolt include lettuce, basil, beetroot, brassicas, spinach, celery, onion, and leek.
WCG is the managing body that administers several colleges of further education in the English West Midlands, namely in the counties of Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Its most recent acquisition concerned its August 2016 merger with South Worcestershire College of which the two campuses then reverted to their historical names of Evesham College in Evesham and Malvern Hills College in Great Malvern. The merger makes it the largest group of further and adult education institutions in the country and one of the five colleges in the United Kingdom empowered by the Privy Council with the authority to award Foundation Degrees
Sir John Harrison Burnett was a British botanist and mycologist, who served as the principal and vice chancellor of Edinburgh University from 1979 to 1987.
David Willis Robinson was a Northern Irish horticultural scientist who made contributions to the national and international fields of horticulture and agriculture, with more than 120 publications. After a working life in research, in retirement he became a journalist and television/radio presenter and a leader of gardening tours. He cultivated and managed the Earlscliffe Gardens at the Baily, Howth, County Dublin, Ireland.
Christopher "Christo" Hamilton Lloyd, OBE was an English gardener and a gardening author of note, as the 20th-century chronicler for thickly planted, labour-intensive country gardening.
Damping off is a horticultural disease or condition, caused by several different pathogens that kill or weaken seeds or seedlings before or after they germinate. It is most prevalent in wet and cool conditions.
Geoffrey Denis Smith was a professional gardener, broadcaster, writer and lecturer. He was the presenter of Gardeners World from 1980 to 1982 and a number of other BBC series in the early 80s including Geoffrey Smith's World of Flowers, Mr Smith's Flower Garden, Mr Smith's Favourite Garden and Mr Smith's Indoor Garden all of which were accompanied by books.
Christopher Paul Beardshaw is a British garden designer, plantsman, author, speaker, and broadcaster.
Paul Hervey-Brookes is an multi-award-winning garden designer and plantsman who no longer lives in the Cotswolds, England He lives alone in the Loire Valley in France.
David Martin Domoney, C Hort. FCI Hort is an English Chartered Horticulturist and celebrity gardener. He co-presents the TV gardening programme Love Your Garden, alongside Alan Titchmarsh, and is the resident gardener on ITV1's This Morning.
Denys Ovenden was a British natural history illustrator working principally in watercolour.
Xenia Noelle Field MBE was a British county councillor, prison reformer, philanthropist, horticulturist and author.
Roger Howard Phillips MBE was a British photographer, botanist and writer.
