April 2019 - The Plant Doctor
Members of the Horndean & District U3A met for their regular monthly meeting on Friday 5th April at Merchistoun Hall. They enjoyed an enthusiastic and knowledgeable talk from Roger Hirons NCHLT "The Plant Doctor."
Roger spent has his life in the industry. His interest started when he was just 2 years old digging holes when his father was working on their couple of acres of garden, which he loved. When he was 13 years old he was worried about not being clever enough to be a doctor (his parents were both doctors) and his father's wise reply was to find something you love. In fact something you wouldn't mind being woken up in the middle of the night to discuss, so you know you are working on something you believe in. He suggested he looked into horticulture which he could go on to study. Roger studied at Pershore College of Horticulture which was the creme de la creme college of the day where he would study 50 plants a day, learning their Latin names and common names etc.
When he left Pershore he started with a nursery who at the time had the widest choice of plants in the UK, with 16,000 varieties. Over the years he has built lots of gardens which were hard work and he began suffering with his back so two and a half years ago he decided to leave Hilliers at Winchester to concentrate on doing talks. Now 35 years since leaving education and with his vast knowledge and experience, through his talks (over 70 each year) he is able to help people with his knowledge and expertise. He wants to help people get their gardens to work for them by a combination of the right features and the right plants and trees in their best positions.
Roger talked to us about unusual and rare plants available to the British gardener. A very small selection of the plants we heard about were, Amelanchier Canadensis, Canary Bird, Star of Holland, Rosa Mundi, Moyseii Geranium, Lady Hamildon (a great favourite) and Silphrum Laciniatum and beautiful photographs of each one.
He said if you emulate nature in your garden all plants will thrive. If the plant loves full sun then it must be put in full sun and not partial shade under a tree. Tree roots become fungal whereas lawns are bacterial. Roger asked members why apples are round. He explained that to germinate apples must leave the root system area immediately under the tree. If positioned on a slope apples could roll away, stay complete and germinate.
Roger repeated the old adage of don't plant a rose where an old rose has been. Don't plant an apple tree where a cherry tree has been. He advised us to look up the family of a plant to find out who is related to whom to be sure to buy plants which are unrelated to our existing plants. Families of plants need similar nutrients and each one puts their own defence mechanism into the ground to stop similar plants thriving near them.
There are 650 varieties of holly trees, 450 varieties of laburnums, 18,000 different varieties of trees, 13,000 of rhododendron and azalea. The oldest yew tree in the UK is 5,500 years old, found in Scotland, the second oldest is 4,400 is in Wales and 3,000 is in Suffolk.
Roger answered several questions. One member asked Roger how to find out which family a plant belongs to - his reply was, just punch in the name on a search engine and you will find the family or classification. If it ends in eae for instance that is the family. He repeated, if plants are from the same family do not plant them next to each other because they fight for the same nutrients. There is always a bacterial/ fungal war between the lawn and the borders. Fruit trees are ok to be planted in lawn because they love the bacteria found there. For more information you can email Roger by clicking on his name in the first paragraph. Members thoroughly enjoyed his talk, looking at the rare plants he brought with him and buying them after his Talk.
Diane Stoner
Speaker Coordinator