Rewatch lectures from September 2024

Piet Oudolf, “Dreamed Nature”

This lecture is in Dutch.

Piet needs no introduction! Everyone in the gardening world knows him, and his name is famous even far beyond that. He started his nursery in Hummelo in the early 1980s. It served as a base for trying out plants and getting to know them for his designs. Few people have such an eye for plants and know exactly how to use them.

He will discuss the garden as a substitute for everything we miss in today's landscape. Piet will review several of his projects, both past and recent designs.

Åsa Gregers-Warg, “Beth Chatto Gardens – past, present and future”

This lecture is in English.

Beth Chatto (1923–2018) was undoubtedly one of the most influential British gardeners of the past half-century. Beth was ahead of her time, and her ecological and sustainable approach to gardening is just as relevant today as it was when she first started her garden in the 1960s. At that time, she managed to transform an overgrown wasteland of parched gravel and waterlogged ditches by using plants that had been adapted by nature to thrive in these different conditions. Her mantra, 'Right Plant, Right Place', has inspired generations of gardeners around the world.

Åsa Gregers-Warg is head gardener at Beth Chatto's Plants & Gardens in Essex, England, where she has worked for over twenty years and now manages a small team of gardeners and trainees. Through working closely with Beth over the years, Åsa has gained invaluable insight and understanding of the underlying philosophy and planting principles of the garden. Åsa will share the story of Beth and the gardens, from their early beginnings to the present day.

Fergus Garret, “Great Dixter – how an intensive flower garden full of colourful flowers can support biodiversity”

This lecture is in English.

A recent biodiversity study at Great Dixter has shown that the gardens are much richer in biodiversity than the surrounding countryside. The research looked at everything from beetles to ants, flies to hoverflies, mosses to lichens, revealing some astonishing insights – including nationally scarce spiders and a huge range of bird and bee species found in the UK. Fergus Garrett will share more about the background to the biodiversity audit, reveal the process and explore the reasons for such diversity, especially in an intensively landscaped flower garden. Great Dixter's findings serve as a brilliant model for how we can change the way we garden to combine exceptional beauty with nature-friendly practices and successfully combine native and non-native plant species so that our gardens can serve as refuges for wildlife.