Living Libraries: Stories from The Plant Review

Gardening with the RHS

Royal Horticultural Society

Home & Garden, Leisure, Hobbies

4.4 • 654 Ratings

🗓️ 2 October 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Gardens are more than places of beauty — they’re living archives, preserving stories of the past. In this episode, we leaf through the September issue of The Plant Review to uncover what history can teach us about the gardens of today. RHS horticulturist Jack Aldridge recalls the rare purple-leaved Stachyurus—first spotted in a Devon garden in the 1970s, lost for decades, then rediscovered at a Cornish plant fair. Judith Taylor, a 91-year-old retired neurologist and garden historian, explores the legacy of Roy Genders, one of the most prolific gardening voices of the 20th century. And plant taxonomist and collector Jamie Compton joins James to untangle the thorny mysteries of the Banksian roses. Host: James Armitage and Gareth Richards Contributors: Jack Aldridge, Judith Taylor, Jamie Compton Links: The Plant Review

Transcript

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0:00.0	Save 30% on RHS membership today.
0:05.0	Enjoy unlimited access to 5 RHS gardens and 230 partner gardens all year round.
0:13.0	Delight in exclusive member only days and reduce rate tickets to RHS flower shows.
0:19.0	Plus expert gardening advice,
0:22.6	monthly editions of the garden magazine,
0:23.8	and so much more.
0:28.3	Join today from just £56.org at rhs.org.
0:30.9	Hurry, offer, end soon.
0:49.3	Terms and our lives. They're portals. Step into them and you step into layers of history, memory and even possibility.
0:55.0	Some plants will come and go in a single year, but many outlive us by centuries standing witness to the passage of time.
1:02.0	The gardens they inhabit a living libraries, carrying stories of people who planted them, the worlds they came from and the futures that they might shape.
1:10.0	This week we're opening the pages of those green archives to follow a few stories from the Septuagius planted them, the worlds they came from and the futures that they might shape.
1:11.0	This week we're opening the pages of those green archives to follow a few stories from the
1:14.7	September issue of the Plant Review and ask what they reveal about our past and what they
1:19.0	can teach us about gardens today.
1:21.1	Joining me for this journey is James Armitage, editor of the Plant Review.
1:24.6	James, welcome.
1:25.6	Hello, Gareth.
1:26.6	Hello, so tell us, why did you choose this kind of historical theme?
1:31.3	Well, it was partly, of course, because the September review of the Plant Review
1:35.3	lends itself quite well to that. There's quite a few stories about the past and digging around in the past,
1:40.3	but also I think it's the time of year. I think autumn is a very reflective time of year and you feel
	...

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