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| Rooftop Garden in Singapore |
Another very enjoyable activity during these winter months has been to attend the series of James Hearsum lectures at Writtle College. They have been running at about one a month at Writtle College and the quality and diversity of the speakers has been first class. Last evening I listened to James Wong (of Grow Your Own Drugs fame on TV, and four gold medals at Chelsea !) who spoke about the Future of Horticulture although his slides were all of Singapore, his first home, so the connection was probably a bit tenuous ? That said the state policy of ensuring buildings include "green spaces" is something that our cities could learn from.
My favourite speaker was probably Andy Sturgeon (very famous designer and also holder of numerous Chelsea medals) who had a really good sense of humour and interestingly not a huge plant knowledge (my opinion). Another garden designer described him as a very good project manager, maybe a bit harsh. Anyway very entertaining, as was the wonderfully named Dusty Gedge (not hedge) who spoke about his green roof projects which include the tops of several skyscrapers in Canary Wharf.
The speaker that I found most interesting though was Stephen Crisp the Head Gardener, at Winfield House home of the US Ambassador to the UK. He has been there a number of years and has completed a number of stunning projects within a very tight budget. How he improvised and the volume of work he gets through was very impressive.
If you get the chance to hear any of these people speak I would recommend making the effort- a great way to spend a winters evening.
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