Is it easy to be a nature-friendly gardener?
Celebrating the launch of the National Trust’s Book of Nature Friendly Gardening, the Garden Museum hosts a conversation between five professional gardeners who have all been on their own journeys to adapt the way they garden in light of the twin climate and biodiversity crises.
Matthew Pottage, Head of Horticulture and Landscape Strategy at The Royal Parks, is charged with ensuring some of London’s finest parks are managed in a way that ensures they are resilient for the future, offering maximum benefit for both people and wildlife.
Kate Bradbury is a garden writer and broadcaster who specialises in wildlife gardening. She is a patron for various nature conservation charities and runs regular garden wildlife safaris in the ‘rewilded’ garden at Knepp.
Sean Harkin is Head Gardener at the Inner Temple Gardens in London where he has been evolving the historic Garden to combine biodiversity and beauty.
Rebecca Bevan is the National Trust’s Specialist for Environmental Horticulture and the author of their new book on Nature Friendly Gardening which encourages readers to make big changes to the way they garden.
Sheila Das, Head of Gardens at the National Trust, will chair the conversation, bringing insights of her own from her deep love of food growing and nurturing soil health.
All the panellists have small gardens of their own in which they seek to find a balance between their aspirations for a fabulous, photogenic space with their responsibility to the natural world.
Speakers
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Kate Bradbury
Kate Bradbury
Kate Bradbury is an author, journalist and TV presenter specialising in wildlife gardening. She edits the wildlife pages of BBC Gardeners World Magazine, has a regular column in The Guardian and has written five books on wildlife gardening, including The Bumblebee Flies Anyway. She has presented on BBC Gardeners’ World and Springwatch and is patron of the charities Froglife and the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, and an ambassador for Butterfly Conservation.
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Matthew Pottage
Matthew Pottage
Matthew Pottage is Head of Horticultural and Landscape Strategy for the eight Royal Parks in London. He was formerly Curator of RHS Garden Wisley for nearly 9 years during which time he oversaw a number of transformative projects. He is the author of ‘How To Garden When you Rent’ and a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners Question Time. He is a board member for Fulham Palace and the Chelsea Physic Garden and is part of the RHS Woody Plant Expert Group.
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Sean Harkin
Sean Harkin
Sean Harkin has been Head Gardener at the Inner Temple Garden for seven years and was previously Head Gardener at Kensington Palace. During his time at the Inner Temple Gardens Sean has introduced a more naturalistic style of gardening with the removal of bedding schemes and a focus on meadows, working with ecologists to increase resources for birds, insects and other wildlife.
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Rebecca Bevan
Rebecca Bevan
Rebecca Bevan is Senior National Specialist for Environmental Horticulture at the National Trust. She is author of The National Trust’s School of Gardening and Nature-Friendly Gardening books.
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Sheila Das
Sheila Das
Sheila Das is Head of Gardens and Parks for the National Trust. In her previous role as Garden Manager at RHS Garden Wisley she led the development of the Hilltop landscape focusing on wildlife, wellbeing and edible growing initiatives.
