July 2021 - The World Garden
Tom Hart Dyke first shot to international prominence in 2000, when he was kidnapped in the Panamanian jungle on a plant hunting expedition that went dangerously wrong.
Tom and his travelling companion, Paul Winder, were taken hostage while trekking through ‘The Darien Gap’, a dangerous place abandoned by all to warring guerrilla factions. Tom and Paul were captured on Tom’s sister’s birthday - 16th March 2000 - and were held for nine months; released in time for Christmas on 16th December 2000.
The idea for the World Garden was born in the depths of despair in the Colombian jungle. At Midday on June 16th 2000, three months into their kidnap ordeal, Tom and his fellow captive Paul Winder, were told to prepare to die that night. Paul spent the afternoon of that fateful day in prayer, but Tom decided that the best course of action would be to spend his final day on Earth designing his dream garden! He spent the day drawing plans, in his diary, for a World Garden – containing the plants he’d collected from across the globe, planted out in their respective countries of origin.
Luckily for Tom, Paul and their families, the boys were not executed. After Tom’s return home to his ancestral home of Lullingstone Castle, near Sevenoaks, in Kent, Tom and Paul (Winder) penned the best-selling book The Cloud Garden (Transworld: 2003) detailing their experiences in the jungle. Tom’s jungle antics – building gardens in the mountains, much to the annoyance of his captors - cemented his reputation as a ‘plant nut’.
See more at the Lullingstone Castle website.
This very interesting and entertaining Zoom talk had 41 connections meaning that 55-60 members were enthralled by his story.