This talk and all our lectures are FREE for Friends of the Botanical Gardens to attend. Members of the public are also welcome to join us on payment of £5 at the door on the day. Live talks are held in the Education Centre in the grounds of the Botanical Gardens - easily accessed via the Thompson Road Entrance.
House-plants are a delightful way to make your home greener and more environmentally friendly.
The key to looking after them is to find out what kind of natural environment they come from and to try and replicate that in your home. For example, cacti come from hot dry parts of the world, so they don’t need a lot of water and a sunny window-sill is ideal for them. Ferns, on the other hand, inhabit shady moist places, so a bathroom or north-facing room is better for them.
Using a mixture of live plants and digital images, plant expert Dr Gillian Fearn, of Abbey Brook Cactus Nursery at Matlock will answer your questions and help you to keep your houseplants healthy. The talk will include a practical demonstration of propagation and other cultivation techniques.
Gillian is a retired university lecturer, botanist and researcher with particular interests in house-plants, succulents and in plants and gardens from around the world. She has owned her own garden centre and remains as joint proprietor (with husband Brian) of Abbey Brook Cactus Nursery, Matlock, Derbyshire, where they have a number of Plant Heritage National Collections, including Lithops, Conophytum and their own Echinopsis hybrids.
Gillian has designed a 2-acre sloping garden around her home and nursery overlooking the Derwent Valley, and has over 40 years experience as a gardener and well-travelled field botanist.
She is a regular contributor to garden groups and has been doing garden talks for many years, judging shows and has been a member of several ‘Gardeners’ Question-time’ panels. An active member of Plant Heritage, she has been Honorary Life President of Darley Dale Horticultural Society since 2003.
Abbey Brook Cactus Nursery website
