TV gardener tells how plants and planting has evolved

A CELEBRITY gardener delivered a talk to nearly 200 people in Benson village hall.

Chris Beardshaw was invited to speak at an event organised by the Benson Garden Club.

Beardshaw, 55, has presented gardening shows for TV including Gardeners’ World and is a regular panel member on BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time.

Beardshaw, who is from Worcestershire, spoke to an audience of 190 about the history of garden design from Egyptian times to the present day and how planting has evolved through the centuries.

Teresa McTeague, who chairs the garden club, said that the group tried to host a “very well-known” speaker at least once a year and described Beardshaw’s talk as “fascinating”.

She said: “We have watched him on TV and he always comes across as a very personal, enthusiastic person and he definitely was that. He was really passionate. The feedback that we’ve had from our members has been phenomenally positive.”

Ms McTeague said that she was impressed that Beardshaw spoke for nearly two hours without notes. She said: “He spoke to us about the way we plant and the types of plants have obviously evolved considerably.

“In particular, the Victorian plant hunters who went around the world collecting various things, and because our climate is actually quite a stable one and it doesn’t have too many massive extremes, we can actually grow a phenomenal amount of stuff that comes from all around the world.

“So, an awful lot of the plants and things that we’ve got in this country aren’t necessarily native to us but come from Australia, America or Africa.

“We all found it quite fascinating because we then related it very much to the types of plants and the colour of plants and the textures of plants that you have to create different moods within your garden.”

Ms McTeague said that Beardshaw gave the audience members a checklist to take home with them after the talk.

She said: “It said, did we actually want to live with this garden for the rest of our lives? And I think we all went back and thought, ‘Hmm, well, actually, maybe I need to have a little bit of a rethink’.

“What I took away, and I know an awful lot of members did, is that we need to look at our garden and think about it in a different way.” Jenny Jordan, who helps to manage the groups programme, said the talk had given her food for thought.

She said: “You go back to your own garden and you look at it in a different way than how you have done before.”

The gardening club meets once a month in Benson village hall in Sunnyside and meets from October to April, with garden visits in the summer.

Ms McTeague said: “Each month we have a different speaker with a different subject. Recently, house plants have been very fashionable and gardens dealing with drought conditions, so we try to incorporate some of those things.”

The next talk will be from professional horticulturist Chris Day, “Growing Under Cover”, on January 9.

The club will also host gardener and TV presenter Rachel de Thame on March 5. For more information, visit www.bensongardeningclub.
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