Plants for Purpose: How Research is Reimagining Our Gardens

Gardening with the RHS

Royal Horticultural Society

Home & Garden, Leisure, Hobbies

4.4 • 654 Ratings

🗓️ 6 November 2025

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week we’re taking a moment to look ahead. Carol Barrie from the RHS Science and Collections Department joins us to talk about Plants for Purpose, an ambitious new project she’s leading in collaboration with the University of Nottingham. It’s using the power of AI, alongside the RHS’s vast Herbarium, to build a living knowledge bank of plants that benefit the environment. We’ll also turn our gaze to spring, as now’s the perfect time to get tulips in the ground before the ground gets too wet or freezes. We revisit Arundel Castle, where back in 2022, 80,000 tulip bulbs arrived for a spectacular spring display. And finally, we head to RHS Rosemoor to meet Emma McFarline, who’ll be exploring the practical, and sometimes surprising, uses of familiar garden plants, from their roles in history to their value today. Host: Guy Barter Contributors: Carol Barrie, Martin Duncan, Emma McFarline Links: Plants for Purpose Project RHS Plants for Pollinators Planting tulips for seasonal colour Scientific overview of rosemary Biomedical research on rosemary as a therapeutic agent Therapeutic effects of rosemary on nervous system disorders Calendula in modern medicine Common mullein, pharmacological and chemical aspects

Transcript

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0:00.0	Looking for the perfect gift for the garden lover in your life?
0:04.0	This Christmas, save £15 on an NHS gift membership
0:07.8	and give them unlimited visits to NHS gardens
0:10.8	and over 230 partner gardens all year round.
0:15.2	They'll enjoy reduced rate tickets and priority access to NHS shows
0:18.8	plus so much more.
0:20.9	Save £15.org RHS.org.uk.
0:24.5	Our friends soon, terms and conditions apply.
0:36.0	Bonfire night marks the true beginning of winter.
0:39.3	The clocks have gone back, the harvest is in, and the garden starts to drift into dormancy.
0:45.3	Traditionally, this was the time when the fields were cleared and garden waste was burned,
0:50.3	part of the natural rhythm of seasonal land management long before bonfire night became
0:55.3	linked with the gunpowder plot. And those fires weren't just for tidying up. The ash, rich in
1:00.9	potassium, was once scattered across the fields as potash, helping to feed the soil and prepare
1:06.0	it for the year ahead. A perfect symbol of looking forward while drawing a season to a close.
1:11.6	This week we're doing just that.
1:13.6	Taking a moment to look ahead.
1:15.6	Carol Barry joins us to talk about plants of purpose, an ambitious new project she's leading
1:20.6	in collaboration with the University of Nottingham.
1:22.6	It's using the power of AI alongside the RHS's vast herbarium to build a living knowledge
1:29.0	bank of plants that benefit the environment.
1:32.4	We'll also turn our gaze to spring, as now is the perfect time to get bulbs in the ground
	...

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