Open Country

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BBC Radio 4 LW

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of Britain

Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of the British Isles

BBC Radio 4 FM

Open Country: An Obsession with Forsythia

An Obsession With Forsythia

An Obsession with Forsythia

BBC Radio 4 - Open Country, An Obsession with Forsythia

Helen Mark meets enthusiasts creating and looking after National Plant Collections.

Monique Gudgeon is a gardener with a new obsession - forsythia. Helen Mark hears how she and others create National Plant Collections, conserving garden plants for the future.

Monique Gudgeon is on a mission to create a botanic garden.  And what better way to get started than to build a new National Plant Collection. In creating a garden from scratch, one of her priorities is to bring in species which both work with the surrounding Dorset landscape and that are in need of conservation. There is a huge diversity of garden plants that need to be looked after so cultivars aren’t lost when they go out of fashion. National Plant Collections were created by the charity Plant Heritage to ensure these plants are preserved and documented for the future. 

Of the plant groups that don’t currently have a custodian, Monique decided to choose forsythia - deciduous shrubs often overlooked as just a hedging plant which burst into vibrant yellow flowers in early spring. In the process of sourcing and propagating all the varieties needed for a collection, Monique has become utterly fascinated by them and their history. Helen Mark hears the story of Monique’s successes and failures so far, and explores what it takes to build and maintain a National Plant Collection. 

We also meet people behind other collections and hear what drives their particular fascination with a group of plants, and how they fit in to their landscapes. We hear the stories of Benjamin Matthews, one of the youngest holders of a National Collection and how his love of hostas led to an unlikely friendship; Lucy Skellorn who has been collecting the irises bred by her great-great grandfather Sir Michael Foster; and Anne Greenall who has a spectacular collection of hydrangeas which thrive in her windswept coastal garden in west Scotland.

Presented by Helen Mark and produced by Sophie Anton

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