Innovations in Horticulture

Chair: Kate Hughes, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Speakers:

Dominique Exmann – MD of Candide Gardens
Dr Waheed Arshad – Botanical Scientist for Hortis

Smart Gardens of the Future with Candide

What sets Candide apart is the application of technology combined with a huge, engaged community of plant enthusiasts. Candide, the company, have been based in central Bristol, since inception in 2017. Three years later, they are a large team of engineers, content writers and growth marketers germinating the first genuinely global gardening ecosystem.

Dr Nicola Cannon, Associate Professor of Agriculture, Royal Agricultural University:

Learning from the agricultural sector to improve weed management in amenity horticulture

Nicola Cannon is a dedicated educator and researcher.  As an agronomist she understands the challenges of arable cropping systems and the complex issues that impact on yield and quality of crops.  Nicola has a strong interest in crop management techniques which can enhance soil health, weed control, crop yield and therefore the sustainability of cropping systems. Through a series of field trials, including the establishment of the Quarry Field Trial, now registered as a recognised European long term field experimen, Nicola has developed a detailed knowledge of weed challenges, crop and weed interactions and investigated techniques for reducing reliance on chemical weed control which is applicable to other sectors including ornamental and amenity horticulture.

Find out more about Nicola’s research here.

Ben Beaumont, Andreas Stihl Limited

Stihl AP System & 36 V Battery Technology

A practical exploration of Stihl’s battery powered equipment.

Sustainable Gardens

Chair: Don Murray, Consultant, Sustainable Landscape Foundation

Speakers:

Emma O’Neill, Head Gardener, Garden Organic

Building an organic garden

Emma has been gardening since 2000 when she left her job in banking to pursue a career in horticulture.  Emma has worked on large private estates, a national trust property, garden centre and private school, and has been the Head Gardener at Garden Organic since November 2015.  In that time, Garden Organic has moved site and now rent a space approximately 1 acre in size which Emma and her team designed and built.  Working alongside two colleagues and an array of dedicated volunteers as well as the wider Garden Organic team, Emma is continuously striving to find innovative ways to inspire people to go organic.

Find out more about Garden Organic and the new demonstration garden here.

Alexander Boedijn, Researcher in Energy and Greenhouse Climate, Wageningen University and Research

Towards circular greenhouse horticulture

Ir. Alexander Boedijn is a researcher in Greenhouse Technology at the Business Unit Greenhouse Horticulture of Wageningen University & Research. He has a background in Mechanical Engineering (BSc, Delft University of Technology) and Biosystems Engineering (MSc, Wageningen University & Research). His focus is on projects involving greenhouse climate- and energy systems as well as circular horticulture. Within the topics of circularity and sustainability, his applied research activities include data analysis and -visualisation, material flow analysis and cross-sector initiatives (e.g. aquaponic systems).

Duncan Farrington, Farmer and Founder of Farrington’s Mellow Yellow

Creating the world’s first carbon & plastic neutral food brand

Duncan Farrington is a fourth generation farmer and founder of Farrington’s Mellow Yellow, becoming the UK’s first seed-to-bottle producer of cold pressed rapeseed oil in 2005. Farrington’s Mellow Yellow has grown to be a well-loved national brand, producing a range of cold pressed rapeseed oils and salad dressings. As a LEAF Marque grower and Demonstration farmer, Duncan is committed to sustainable farming practises from the wildlife habitats around field edges, to the health of the soils in fields. In 2020 Farrington Oils became the world’s first food business to be certified as both carbon and plastic neutral and, in 2021, were honoured to receive a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Sustainable Development for their industry leading commitment to the environment. Farrington Oils is a UK case study for the AgricaptureCO₂ project, to help develop regenerative farming practices that will hopefully ultimately lead to a certified carbon trading initiative for sustainable agriculture.

Find out more about Farrington’s Mellow Yellow here and listen to Duncan talking about the Zero Carbon Farm on BBC Radio 4’s 39 Ways to Save the Planet.

Ecosystem Services and Multifunctionality

Chair: Dr Bruce Howard, Ecosystems Knowledge Network

Speakers:

Ed Ikin, Director of Wakehurst. Royal Botanic Gardens Kew

Researching the value of UK biodiversity: RBG Kew’s Landscape Ecology Programme at Wakehurst

Ed Ikin is Director of Wakehurst: leading Kew’s wild botanic garden and fostering research partnerships with Kew Science. Ed is interested in using ecological approaches to make horticulture more sustainable and using science to understand how landscapes function and unlock plant properties. He was previously chair of London Parks & Gardens Trust, General Manager of Morden Hall Park and Rainham Hall in London, Assistant Head Gardener at Chelsea Physic Garden, Head Gardener at Nymans (National Trust) and a Clore Fellow.

Damien Newman, Training Education and Consultancy Manager, Thrive

Health and wellbeing through gardening and the use of gardens for resilience and recovery

Damien Newman has worked within Thrive’s training and education team for 12 years. He has developed curricula of Social and Therapeutic Horticulture accredited at Higher Education and provided 1000s of hours of teaching to health, social care and horticulture professionals in maximizing the benefits of gardening for health and wellbeing. In this presentation, Damien will explore how time in gardens and gardening can be supportive of health and wellbeing through different models. How gardening and other nature based activity can be part of everyday life and enable all to be resilient to physical and mental ill health and how through formulated programme be utilised to support recovery and rehabilitation.

Find out more about Thrive here.

Professor Thomas Elmqvist, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University

Urban biodiversity and climate change

Thomas Elmqvist, PhD, is a professor in Natural Resource Management at Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University. His research is focused on urbanisation, urban ecosystem services, land use change, natural disturbances and components of resilience including the role of social institutions. He has led the UN-initiated global project “Cities and Biodiversity Outlook” and more recently the Future Earth Project Urban Planet. He was awarded the Biodiversa 2018 prize for excellence in science and impact, and the Ecological Society of America 2019 prize for best paper in “Sustainability Science”.

Traditional Skills in Modern Gardens

Chair: Kate Nicoll, Erasmus Project: Craft Skills for Garden Conservation

Speakers:

Joakim Seiler, Gunnebo House and Gardens/University of Gothenburg

Is there a future without the past?

Joakim Seiler, PhD, is the Head Gardener at the 18th century estate Gunnebo House and Gardens since 2004 and an adjunct lecturer at the Department of Conservation, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He is a researcher in the field of craft science and historic gardens. He has specialised in garden conservation and traditional craft with the thesis “Management regimes for lawns and hedges in historic gardens” which was successfully defended in 2020.

Steven Coghill, Head Gardener, King’s College, University of Cambridge

Only Fools and Horses

My career started in earnest working on a tree and shrub nursery at Castor near Peterborough for the Peterborough Development Corporation, before taking an HND in Amenity Hort at Writtle College before working for Norwich City Council Parks Department as a Trainee Technical assistant followed by time spent at Cambridge University Botanic Gardens before becoming the Head Gardener at Braxted Park in Essex, an imposing 18^th and 19^th century historic landscape. Having finished at Braxted, I became a horticultural lecturer at Otley College in Suffolk, eventually becoming the Head of Horticulture, and taking Post Grad, Qualifications again via Writtle College. After nearly 25 years, I decided to ‘walk the talk’ once again, taking on the post of Head Gardener at Glemham Hall in Suffolk, followed by the Head Gardener role at King’s College Cambridge.  I have recently received an Honorary Degree from Writtle College, for my services to the horticultural education and training sector of our profession, something I am still deeply committed to, having set up the delivery of RHS courses at King’s via Writtle College, and playing a key part in the establishment of a cross university garden apprenticeship scheme with the KEITS training organisation.

Ben Jones, Curator & Guy Horwood, Arborist, Harcourt Arboretum, University of Oxford Garden & Arboretum

Traditional woodland management in a modern arboretum

Biography tbc

Brian Williamson, West Country Coppice

Title and biography tbc

Neil Stevenson, Lead Ranger, Trelissick & North Helford, National Trust

Neil will introduce his work in woodland management for the National Trust and join the discussion as a panellist.

Born and raised on a plant nursery in central Scotland, qualified in Horticulture in the late 80s and then onto Arboriculture in the early 90s at Merrist Wood. Worked in tree surgery and forestry until joining the National Trust as a Warden/woodsmen in Surrey and for the past 22 years has been the Lead Ranger on the Trelissick and North Helford properties in Cornwall. Responsible for woodland and historic parkland management including traditional coppicing, pollarding and timber production. Much of our management is wildlife based using traditional techniques to produce habitat and encourage natural regeneration within our sessile oak woodlands. Projects at the moment are based around parkland restoration and woodland grazing, veteran tree and woodland management, wildlife meadows and arable wildflower conservation. We have a very strong woodland team at Trelissick and carry out all the work in house, using veteranization techniques to improve our woodland habitat and many other traditional management methods.

The Future of Plant Health

Chair: Julian Ives, Dragonfli Ltd.

Speakers:

Dr Charles Lane, RSB Senior Plant Health Professional, Fera Science Ltd

The role of citizen science in plant health surveillance

Charles has spent the past 20 years identifying fungal plant diseases both indigenous and alien to the UK. He leads Fera’s work on citizen science developing capability and capacity in stakeholders, NGOs and members of the public about plant health and biosecurity. He is a Royal Society Biology Senior Plant Health Professional and a member of the Arboricultural Association.

Jonathan Burton, Education Records and Science Manager, Yorkshire Arboretum – Tree Health Centre

Developing records and mapping of pests at the Yorkshire Arboretum

Having managed the 10ha woodland garden collection in Ray Wood at Castle Howard for the best part of a decade, Jonathan now oversees education, plant records and scientific collaboration for the Yorkshire Arboretum. He enjoys working with external researchers, plant health organisations and volunteers to encourage broader scientific use of the arboretum collection drawing on his training in Zoology (B.Sc), Ecology and Environmental Management (M.Res), and temperate forestry (PG Dip).

Alistair Yeomans, MICFor MCIHort, Plant Health Alliance

Plant Healthy Certification Scheme – a proactive approach to plant biosecurity

Industry concerns about the risks posed by Xylella led to focused efforts on improving plant health management across different sectors and along their supply chains. Industry, environmental NGOs and government formed a Plant Health Alliance to work together to develop the Plant Health Management Standard, published in 2019, and the associated Plant Healthy Certification Scheme, which was launched to the trade in February 2020. 

Planting for a Changing Climate

Chair: Professor Alistair Griffiths, Director of Science & Collections, Royal Horticultural Society

Speakers:

Clare Hart and Tessa Kum, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and the Climate Change Alliance of Botanic Gardens

The Future Garden – why we all need a Climate Change Alliance of Botanic Gardens

Tessa Kum provides specialized Horticulture Administration Support to the Horticulture Team of Melbourne Gardens, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (RBGV), Australia. Tessa is a newly fledged Horticulturist, having left the corporate world to retrain, and graduated from the Burnley Horticultural College, University of Melbourne in 2020. For this she was awarded the Tom and Effie Lothian Memorial Prize for all-round excellence in environmental horticulture. She has worked closely with Curator Horticulture (RBGV) on various projects – from microclimate monitoring to  plant collecting expedition preparation to biosecurity practices – and plays an active role in the secretariat of the Climate Change Alliance of Botanic Gardens. 

Clare Hart is the Manager Horticulture at the  Melbourne Gardens, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (RBGV), Australia. Clare is a Horticulturist who has been working in the industry for the past 25 years, in numerous roles and areas of horticulture and arboriculture including: Nursery Management, Garden Design, Botanic Gardens, Local Government and Horticulture media (radio) . Her experience extends to strategic and operational management of public open space, including large parks, botanic gardens, conservation areas and streetscapes. Clare has a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Advanced Certificate in Horticulture and a Graduate Certificate in Arboriculture and is an executive committee member of Botanic Gardens Australia and New Zealand (BGANZ) Victoria. Clare is a proud RBGV founding member of the Climate Change Alliance of Botanic Garden

Dr Ross Cameron, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Sheffield

2046 – A Vintage Year for the Tumbleweed? Garden Design & Management in a Changing Climate

Ross Cameron is Director of Research at the Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Sheffield. Ross has a strong interest in garden landscapes and plants. His research covers the benefits associated with gardens/gardening, ornamental plant adaptability to stress and the impacts of climate change on our gardens. He was co-author of the RHS Report – Gardening in a Changing Climate. Ross has supervised a number of PhD students investigating the impacts of climate change on garden plants and published on aspects of sustainable garden management.

David White, Woodland & Climate Change Adaption Adviser, Forestry Commission

Challenges for the future forester

David White joined the Forestry Commission in 1990 and has worked in operational roles protecting the trees and woodlands on the public forest estate in Sussex, Sherwood, Scottish Borders and the Forest of Dean. Since 2007, David has worked within Forest Services delivering government policy to protect, improve and expand woodland in England. David has a strong interest in woodland creation and this has lead him to create one hectare of woodland on his family farm to investigate alternative species of trees and the challenges of tree establishment in the face of unparalleled climate change. David is a member of the Institute of Chartered Foresters.