In 2018 our Annual Conference will be hosted at Royal Botanic Garden Kew and will discuss Back to basics – soil and water management, plant nutrition and plant health. We will consider issues, solutions and new research. PlantNetwork’s 22nd AGM will be held on the afternoon of 19th April.

October 3rd and 4th 2017. Cambridge Botanic Garden. Registration 13.15 on 3rd October, ends 16.00hrs on 4th. Members £75.

20 June 2017, RHS Garden Wisley. RHS staff Sam Gallivan, Nursery and Propagation Team leader and Heather Cooke, Team Leader for the members’ seed scheme hosted a fully booked training day with 25 delegates from 17 gardens across the UK.

9.30 – 16.00 on 4th October 2017 at Westonbirt Arboretum. A day, which will re-launch our Tree Forum and will look at techniques and common issues in successful tree establishment, including practical demonstrations.

19th October 2017. Treborth Botanic Garden, University of Bangor. Case studies on managing gardens and collections for research, partnerships & visitor attractions. We will include how to develop management plans and Spirit of Place that helps to relate collections to host institutions core aims.

Launch of our Botanical Heritage Forum, 6th December 11.00am. Sir Hans Sloane Herbarium, Natural History Museum, London. A guided tour of this historic herbaria collection by Dr Mark Spencer FLS and Hon. Curator (Plants), Linnean Society of London Scientific Associate, Natural History Museum. Followed by option to meet over lunch to discuss future networking and training for PlantNetwork’s Botanical Heritage Forum.

24 people enjoyed a sunny couple of days on the Isle of Bute and with our hosts the Mount Stuart Trust. Mount Stuart’s Don Murray, Head of Landscapes and Horticulture and Graham Alcorn, Living Collection Manager, made us all feel very welcome and shared their knowledge, enthusiasm and stories of Mount Stuart with us all. PlantNetwork thanks the Mount Stuart Trust for their support for this training day.

26-27 April 2017, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. 35 people attended the conference over the two days. Alongside presentations, discussions and a tour of the garden delegates took the opportunity to share ideas and experiences at our conference dinner. Thanks to Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh for hosting the conference in the unique Botanic Cottage.

We are pleased to announce our new Silver Sponsor: Dragonfli suppliers of natural pest control, plants, seeds and plant care products in addition to professional advice on IPM.

Wakehurst Place 13th July 2016. A practical field based training day spending the day looking at the range of meadows at Wakehurst and behind the scenes to learn about machinery, seed preparation and the nursery.

Cambridge Botanic Garden, 6 December 2016
36 people met at Cambridge University Botanic Garden for the new Glasshouse Forum meeting. Attendees heard about rationalising collections by effective collections policies.

4 & 5th November. Wollaton Hall, Nottingham.

11-12 October 2016 Manchester.
34 people attended or Skills and Standards Annual Conference In Manchester to hear 13 speakers speak on plant health, climate change, collections management and horticultural standards and skills. We also chose the event to launch new Forum Groups and delegates discussed issues and future training needs relating to our Forum Group themes of Plant Records, Tree Management, Propagation, Glasshouse Cultivation and Botanical Heritage.