HortWeek Podcast

In this week's episode Sue Payne, MD of Q&S Commercial Landscaping, and Alison Benjamin of Urban Bees explore the shift toward chemical-free landscaping and the vital role of sustainable, pollinator-friendly habitats in urban spaces, such as Battersea Power Station.Rather than viewing natural landscapes as "messy," they argue for a cultural shift toward embracing naturalistic designs. This approach involves replacing intensive, high-emission machinery and chemical weedkillers with skilled hand-gardening techniques.Benjamin debunks a common corporate sustainability myth: placing honeybee hives on rooftops. She explains that this practice does not aid biodiversity, as honeybees are managed livestock that compete with the UK's 250 wild bee species for food. True biodiversity comes from planting diverse forage.While chemical-free gardening is more labour-intensive, Payne highlights that it reduces material costs. Cultivating perennial plants and dividing them for self-population creates self-sustaining ecosystems that save money in the long run.Both guests emphasise the importance of "pollinating London together". By linking small green spaces, green roofs, and pocket gardens, cities can create continuous "pit stops" of forage and nesting sites for traveling insects. This could be scaled up nationwide. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

HortWeek editor Matt Appleby, A-Level student William Appleby and technical editor Sally Drury report on the essential horticulture stories of the week.Topics this week:Peat-free hits the national pressAre garden centres pricing themselves into slower plant sales?Matt's week on the road with word from Fruit Focus, Ball Colegrave's Summer Showcase, Floral Fantasia at Hyde Hall and the Green Italy launch.How drought and hosepipe bans are hitting horticultureDoes the absence of horticulture in schools' career advice signify a broken system? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the HortWeek Podcast, Matt Appleby speaks to Sara Blair-Manning to discuss the ambitious Growing Our Green Heritage project at the Birmingham Botanic Gardens. Facing the dual challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss, Blair-Manning outlines the transformative £25 million “Growing Our Green Heritage” project, aimed at restoring the historic venue while ensuring 21st-century sustainability. At the heart of the project is the massive challenge of temporarily relocating over 10,000 plants to allow for glasshouse restoration. Sarah describes this "museum of plants" as a living collection that carries inherent jeopardy, as plants, unlike static museum artifacts, react unpredictably to being moved. To mitigate this, the horticultural team has spent years auditing the collection, setting up specialised nursing glasshouses, and actively propagating backup plants to ensure the gardens' global botanical legacy is safeguarded. Simultaneously, the physical footprint of the gardens is being redesigned to vastly improve the day-to-day visitor experience. The current, echoing UPVC entrance building, which she jokingly refers to as the "swimming pool entrance" due to its extreme seasonal temperatures, will be replaced by an extended, fully accessible visitor centre. Existing architectural footprints will be reused rather than demolished to lower carbon impact. Additions include accessible facilities including a prayer room, changing places facility and a significantly larger cafe run in partnership with Medicine Bakery. The new layout will allow locals to access the shop and cafe without buying a garden ticket, a move expected to better integrate the gardens into the local community. "Education by stealth" will be delivered via multi-layered digital interpretation.The curation strategy is also shifting to meet modern environmental and cultural realities. Rather than relying on high-maintenance, water-heavy municipal bedding, the gardens are transitioning to drought- and pest-resilient perennial plants better suited to extreme weather:"We've changed the approach in terms of areas of planting to go to a drought-resilient and pest-resilient perennial framework of planting that is more sensible given the extremes of weather that we're getting," she says.The gardens are also moving away from traditional, colonial-era botanical narratives toward a co-curated model. By partnering with Birmingham’s "hyper-diverse" communities, the gardens are incorporating multicultural knowledge about the plants' origins and implementing multi-layered interpretation, including digital tools like Bloomberg Connects, to ensure that history, science, and cultural relevance are shared transparently with every visitor.As Blair-Manning says, "I've always believed that if you can get the values and behaviours right of the organisation and the people working or volunteering for the organisation, then everything else will follow." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

HortWeek editor Matt Appleby, prospective horticulturist Douglas Newbery and technical editor Sally Drury report on the essential horticulture stories of the week.Topics for this week:National Plant Show product highlights including pre and post-biotics for soil health, a marvellous mulch and a child-size garden centre trolley.Promising news from Aeroplas pot and tray company An early look at potential Christmas hot sellersNew lines for Creation Horticulture New plant award winners at NPS and Gardeners' World LiveOne-stop shops in the UK - could this Dutch model work where it's failed in the past?Horticultural shows: what changes might be see for next year?Horticulture salaries come under the microscope in HortWeek's latest reportAnd Doug Newbery (son of Georgie Newbery of Flowers from the Farm) offers his thoughts on horticulture as a careerPodcast producer: Christina Taylor Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week the tables are turned on Matt Appleby as he guests on The Plant Based Podcast where he fields probing questions from HortWeek columnist and horticulture influencer Michael Perry (aka Mr Plant Geek) and horticulturist, floral designer, broadcaster and author Ellen Mary.Topics up for discussionHas RHS Chelsea Flower Show become too much about spectacle and not enough about gardening?Peat-free transition: Has the horticulture industry been set up to fall by unrealistic timelines, or has it been too slow to innovate?Is peat-free growing being successfully communicated to consumers?How is the horticulture trade on the continent reacting to the moves towards peat-free?Every year hundreds of exciting new plants are introduced and win awards, but why do so few hit the market?Are there any plants on the market that shouldn't be?How can we attract and support young people into the horticulture industry?Can the horticulture industry continue to rely on passion over pay?Are moves towards sustainble and ecological gardening making gardening too difficult, complicated and expensive?Should domestic horticultural production be supported more and will the SPS agreement help?AND FINALLY...What practice might horticulture look back on in 10 years' time and wonder how it was ever normal? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lord Heseltine tells the story of the birth of the European Space Agency. Why post-Apollo, when the US was spending £1.2 billion a year on space, the whole of Europe was spending just £200 million. Why the birth of ESA was driven by the self-interest of three major countries. Why the US general with a $29 billion budget for the Star Wars project wanted to invest in Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. Why, the idea that Britain could compete alone with the technologies that were accumulated and available to the American capitalist system was “simply laughable”. Why “being European is not selling out British interests”. And why Margaret Thatcher told him: “If you want to get on and put your budget into this, you can, but you're not getting any of mine." Join Alice and Lord Heseltine as they pick apart the negotiating contrivances and the wheeling and dealing to circumnavigate “turkeys not voting for Christmas” that ultimately put European space on the map.Contributors:Alice Bunn, President of UKspace Dr Alice Bunn OBE FIMechE FRAeS CEng | LinkedInUKspace: Overview | LinkedIn Lord Heseltine, Member of the House of LordsKey topics covered:Creation of the European Space Agency (ESA)US "Star Wars" program and brain drainGeopolitical case for European R&D collaborationImpact of Brexit on science and technology Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

HortWeek editor Matthew Appleby discusses the 2026 salaries report on the HortWeek Podcast with Fresh Horticultural Careers director Viki Halkett and Haymarket Recruitment marketing manager Vishnu Kannan.Higher-paid roles are becoming more common across the horticulture sector, as employers respond to rising costs and changing demand. New HortWeek research, drawing on internal sample data from jobs advertised on www.HortWeek.com, shows steady growth in roles paying £40,000 and above, reflecting a shift towards more skilled, technical and management-focused positions.The findings are based on HortWeek’s analysis of salary data from across the UK gardening sector, using a consistent sample of roles advertised on HortWeek.com to compare how pay bands changed between 2021 and early 2025. The data show a clear upward movement, with mid-range and higher-paid roles taking a larger share of the market over time.The panel discusses what kind of technology is replacing manual labour in the industry — and should humans be worried about “the robots” taking their jobs?We debate whether employers are taking on fewer entry-level staff due to the recent National Minimum Wage rise and what that means for young people who want to start out in the horticultural industry.Viki tells us what kind of salaries technical experts or managers expect to earn and what will be the most highly sought-after technical and specialist skills in the world of environmental horticulture green jobs in the future.Submitted questions from Capel Manor College students are also tackled by the panel. The answers include the essential information on where you can gain work experience after gaining a horticulture qualification, what starting salaries are and what qualifications employers prefer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

HortWeek editor Matt Appleby and technical editor Sally Drury report on the essential horticulture stories of the week.Topics for this week:Sports pitches including at and the football World CupThe National Plant Show, new plant awards and Dutch FlowerTrials.Recent business changes such as at Hortipak and Opperman Plants.Finally, Sally and Matt reflect on the recent deaths of John Ravenscroft, Matt Biggs and Nigel Dunnett.Do check out our huge archive of HortWeek Podcast interviews, with an unrivalled selection of prominent and fascinating figures from all corners of the horticulture sector. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This HortWeek podcast discusses new plant awards with HTA horticulture manager Pippa Greenwood, Frank P Matthews' director Steph Dunn James and Hillier production and amenity director Adam Dunnett.The National Plant Show is at Stoneleigh on 17-18 June. Grower of the Year awards are presented on 24 September with new categories "for every grower there is". Deadline is 3 July.Greenwood said awards gives UK horticulture as big a chance to trumpet itself in the same way awards do in European countries. She added that awards are more than a nice trophy and have a big effect on staff morale. Dunn James said awards are for growers of all sizes, if they have amazing varieties to show off. Greenwood said there is a new category for business turning over £2.5m, as well as new sustainability awards. Dunn James won best in show and visitor vote in 2025 for Prunus 'Japanese Lantern'. Dunnett won 2025 HTA awards for Plant Producer, Life Beyond Peat and Blooming Marvellous Employer, which led to winning International Grower of the Year at IPM Essen in January. He said the biggest win was as an internal "feelgood factor". He said he would like to see more "cut-through" from his UK customer base for award-wnning plants. They both spoke about how winning awards provoked the shedding of a tear, such was the joy they felt at the triumph.Dunn James said the award is a great showcase for wholesale buyers and gives direction about what retailers should be ordering and what customers might be looking at. Frank P Matthews is also back at Four Oaks in September, celebrating its 125th anniversary. New varieties include a NGS apple for its 100th anniversary, a winter-flowering ornamental cherry from the Japanese Lantern award-winning breeding programme, a crab apple and a pear.Dunnett said he is back at Groundsfest showcasing container and field-grown trees at the September show. Hillier won best plant at Chelsea in 2025 with Philadelphus 'Petite Perfume Pink'. Hillier was shortlisted with three plants in 2026 and Frank P Matthews with 'Japanese Lantern'. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

HortWeek editor Matthew Appleby is joined by Simon Conway and Richard Hopkins to discuss the impact of recent geopolitical events on the fresh-produce sector, covering: Investment and growthExpansion effortsMarket challenges Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

HortWeek editor Matthew Appleby is joined by Martin Emmett, Ali Capper. Simon Conway and Richard Hopkins to discuss the impact of recent geopolitical events on the fresh-produce sector, covering:Energy pricesFertiliser supplyIncreased input costsImpact on produce pricingFuture outlook Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew Wilson, ICL’s technical manager for ornamental horticulture in the UK and Ireland, explains what are the challenges for growers and manufacturers to overcome with the next generation of fertilisers.He talks about why we need controlled release fertilisers, the benefits of using ICL's new Cal-BOOST product and which other new fertiliser products ICL has in the pipeline.Andrew tell us about ICL’s Osmocote brand and the impending new EU legislations regarding biodegradable coatings.He ends by giving top tips for growers regarding their fertiliser programmes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Created by The Children’s Gardening Coach Lee Connelly and Leigh Johnstone (The Beardy Gardener), The Classroom Garden reimagines what a “classroom” can be, placing nature, creativity and young people’s voices at its core.Lee Connelly tells HortWeek about how the educational garden came about, how children's voices will be heard at Chelsea, about an international tulip festival project and what he thinks of the state of schools gardening within current educational policy.The Classroom Garden, in the Great Pavilion at Chelsea (19-23 May) is supplied by Farplants and has a wildflower meadow.The space is designed to inspire families, educators and the horticultural industry to rethink how children engage with the natural world.At the heart of the garden is an audio installation featuring real voices from schoolchildren, captured during Lee and Leigh’s school visits of local schools involved in this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show Young Reporters. The Classroom Garden will also serve as a central hub for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show Young Reporters, a new initiative celebrating children’s perspectives at the show.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cosmos and hollyhock grower and Chelsea exhibitor Jonathan Sheppard is preparing for this year's Chelsea Flower Show and is battling the elements to make sure he had enough quality plants available from the thousands he grows for the show. One big concern is heating oil prices rises caused by the Iran war. He feels for growers bigger than himself who set prices at the start of the season but have seen costs rise. The former public affairs professional says the Government is unlikely to intervene for a sector as small as horticulture, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't.He is a veteran of Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in 2022 and 2023 where he won silver gilt for his Cosmos collection display. In 2024, he made his exhibiting debut at RHS Chelsea Flower Show. He won gold in 2025 and had it officially awarded at an RHS event in 2026.Promotionally, he says the BBC gives plenty of coverage but, using a film analogy, he says growers don't want to be seen as just the extras behind the headline stars who design gardens.He also suggests that publicity shouldn't be the only payment for articles on nurseries.Sheppard also has views on growers who produce all their own plants to show versus exhibitors who buy in plants.As a National Collection Holder he is less interested in Plant Heritage's Chelsea garden and more in their members exhibits, of which his is one. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Rachael Forsyth talks to the head of gardens at Chiswick House and Gardens Trust, Rosie Fyles.In this wide-ranging discussion they discuss everything from staffing (Fyles let her gardeners work from home in the bleak mid-winter of 2026), to funding, climate change adaptation to dealing with plant thefts.Fyles faces a challenge shared by many historic gardens - how to respect the restrictions and design inheritance of a Grade I-listed garden while negotiating the pressures inherent in running a popular garden in 2026.She says: "We are very much making [plant] choices with climate change in mind and awareness of the extremes of the conditions."That at times feels a little bit at odds with what's available to buy from growers out there. So I think the demand for those things that are reliably climate-proof, if such a plant exists, demand exceeds supply at the moment. That's something that we're all dealing with."At Chiswick we're also completely peat-free as well which is another factor in terms of what's available for us to buy and plant".Updating the path network to maintain accessibility is high on the agenda, and Fyles has to find a solution that fits the 18th century look and feel of the original materials used in the garden while being fit for purpose, as well as coming in on budget."I'd like to say my role was mainly about living things, plants and people, but actually my role is changing a bit to involve things like understanding how path networks need to be transformed and costing those out and project management and accessibility and all of those things. So the role of gardeners and head gardeners is changing with climate and with the garden's popularity."Professional gardening skills are being respected more Fyles says, but she admits that amid funding pressures and the 'cost of living' crisis, gardens in general are likely to struggle to continue to pay a 'living wage'.At Chiswick, which is a charity, grant funding they receive covers just 23% of operating costs. It is not surprising then, that so many entrants into the sector are career changers that can "afford" the lower salaries. The temptation for some might be to plug staffing gaps with volunteers, a strategy she says risks "undermining the value of the professional gardener".A career changer herself, Fyles enjoys the mix of talents new recruits can bring to the team: "I think one of the things I absolutely love about gardening is that there's not necessarily a right way of doing things and once you've found the right way, things will change and you need to adapt anyway, and that actually, you can learn from absolutely anybody. That's the best thing about it. It's quite democratic." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.