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Gardening with the RHS

Call of the Wild

Gardening with the RHS

Royal Horticultural Society

Home & Garden, Leisure, Hobbies

4.4654 Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, we’re stepping off the garden path and into the wild. James Armitage, editor of The Plant Review, joins Gareth Richards to reflect on how a little wilderness can bring balance, biodiversity, and unexpected beauty, to even the most cultivated spaces. We begin with a tribute to the intrepid botanist John Watson, whose plant-hunting adventures in South America unearthed a treasure trove of wild flora. Plantsman Robert Rolfe shares stories of Watson’s passion and the remarkable plants he helped bring into cultivation. Then, it’s over to the Garry oak meadows of Vancouver Island, where nurserywoman Amy Sanderson and writer Eric Hsu are rethinking everything we thought we knew about camassias – revealing their surprising resilience in dry climates. Finally, we ascend to the Himalayas with botanist Richard Moore to meet the hardy Roscoea – a plant both wild and wonderful, whose taxonomic tale is as twisty as its mountain roots. All this, plus a call to action: find out how you can help protect community growing spaces by supporting the RHS-backed Space to Grow amendment in Parliament. Hosts: Gareth Richards & James Armitage Contributors: Robert Rolfe, Amy Sanderson, Eric Hsu, Richard Moore Links: RHS Horticultural bursaries Subscribe to The Plant Review Space to Grow amendment for the government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill Use this template to send to your MP find your MP’s email address here Saving allotments and community gardens

Transcript

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0:00.0

Get your tickets for the greatest show in Earth at an RHS garden near you.

0:05.1

Where nature puts on an unforgettable performance of colour and fragrance.

0:09.3

The scenery changes many times in one season and our finest trees will happily play the part of...

0:14.7

The best hiding place ever.

0:17.4

Booth!

0:18.2

Put your day out of dreams in the hands of the experts.

0:21.6

It's the greatest show in Earth.

0:23.7

At an RHS garden near you.

0:25.5

Book tickets online for discounts, plus under fives go free and under 16 to five pounds.

0:35.1

We often like to think of gardening as an act of creation, of introducing order into a chaotic world,

0:41.7

or even of cultivating beauty in a landscape governed by the wild.

0:47.3

Gardens represent our attempt to impose pattern and purpose on nature's exuberance,

0:51.5

but when we take a closer look, the lines can blur.

0:55.0

Even the most formal garden can never truly keep the wild out.

0:59.0

A self-seated primrose in the gravel path.

1:03.0

A mossy corner no one planned.

1:06.0

The silent work of pollinators and fungi and unseen roots.

1:10.0

Nature can never truly be tamed, despite even the silent work of pollinators and fungi and unseen roots.

1:16.6

Nature can never truly be tamed despite even our best efforts. Gradually, we're waking up to the wisdom of the wild.

1:19.6

We're beginning to recognise that welcoming a little wilderness into our gardens

1:22.6

may well be the secret to finding balance, biodiversity and the even beauty.

1:32.2

This week we're stepping off the path and seeing what happens when we let nature lead.

...

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