Talks
Roger is happy to give talks to gardening groups in Monmouthshire and surrounding Counties. He currently offers six topics. All proceeds to the Cancer Caring Charities of the NGS
My Tender Shoots Zoom Talk
I recently gave my Garden 365 – No Excuses talk to the Tender Shoots Garden Club Network. This talk and the associated Plant List are available to Tender Shoots members on their website Link https://youtu.be/fc5nor6Jywc
The Impatient Gardeners
This is the history of the development of a 2 acre garden Highfield Farm from 2017 – 19 and beyond. It details the background, the design philosophy, the process, the planting and illustrates with a personal selection of choice trees, shrubs and herbaceous from the gardens 1200 varieties
Hydrangeas – A Gentle Obsession
Hydrangeas fell out of fashion in the late 90s but are now right back in the mainstream. With the introduction of new species, we now have hydrangeas in a range of colours from white through green, pink, blue to the deepest purple and wine, flowering over six months and peaking at that difficult time of late summer into autumn. This talk covers how to grow, prune, propagate and colour manage hydrangeas and how to cut and dry the flowers. It introduces a personal selection of varieties from 12 species plus a few others and it includes where to see them at their best and where to buy them.
Garden 365 – No Excuses
In the UK we are blessed with a climate which allows us to grow such a wide range of plants from different geographical regions and growing conditions. There are really no excuses, we can plant our gardens so they look beautiful every day of the year.
This is a plant-rich presentation with a personal selection from Highfield Farm Garden to demonstrate and illustrate how this can be achieved.
Grass Consciousness
Suddenly, grasses are everywhere in modern garden design. Whether it’s the New American Movement, New Perennial Movement, Prairie planting or more generally, Naturalistic planting, grasses usually feature heavily. This talk will cover the advantages of using grasses, how they are incorporated in garden design, which grass in which location, their care and maintenance, companion planting and a list of favourites, which will be provided as a handout
Euphorbias
In a world where climate change is challenging the way we think about gardens , where sustainability and resilience are key determining factors in our choice of plants and planting styles, Euphorbias have a key role to play. This amazingly versatile family is the sixth largest in the plant world, is found on all continents but Antarctica and exists as ‘trees’, shrubs, herbaceous, succulents and house plants. Garden varieties offer a range of beautiful, tough, drought resistant evergreens and herbaceous plants, across a surprising colour range which no garden should be without. Find out more here.
Ever So Umbel
Naturalistic and wild gardening have brought Umbels to the fore in garden design. Already familiar as wild flowers – Cow Parsley – and weeds – Ground Elder – Umbelifers have played a core role in our lives over the millennia, as religious symbols, medicines, herbs, spices, vegetables, poisons and now ornamentals. However, they can be confusing – not all umbels are flat-topped flowers, not all flat topped flowers are umbels and not all umbels belong to the Umbel family. Who knew that sea holly and Astrantias are umbels? Intrigued, or perhaps confused? This talk will walk you through the history of umbels in society, in our food and will celebrate the variety and natural beauty of umbels for use in your garden.
Highfield Farm Garden 