Busy Lizzie’s Craft & Plant Shop

Presents:

A Day that will Transport you into the WORLD OF THE EARLY PLANT-HUNTERS

Monday 10^th May

Join us to hear not one, but two excellent talks about some of the most prestigious plant-hunters of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Caradoc Doy will be giving the first talk at 11am: Plant Hunters & Pioneers, which will be followed by a buffet lunch.  At 2pm. you can then enjoy the second talk, The Chinese Gooseberry Man, which will be a presentation in costume by the actor Geoff Hales.

Plant Hunters & Pioneers tells the fascinating story of the Veitch Nurseries of Exeter and Chelsea and some of the many popular plants they introduced.  The Exeter nurseries of James Veitch & Sons were responsible for many horticultural firsts, including being the first commercial nursery in Britain to sponsor their own plant collectors, who returned many hundreds of new exotic plants for British gardens.

Geoff Hales actor and author will entrance his listeners with tales of Wilson’s adventures on the great rivers and remote mountains of China, recounting some of the experiences in Wilson’s own words, In the costume of the period.

The Chinese Gooseberry Man tells the story of some of the trials and difficulties encountered by Ernest ‘Chinese’ Wilson, who made four expeditions to China in the first years of the twentieth century, bringing back such plants as the Chinese Gooseberry itself (or Kiwi Fruit, as we now know it), the Regal Lily and the Yellow and Red Poppyworts.  He also brought back the seeds of the Handkerchief Tree.

Enjoy these two great talks and a buffet lunch within the beautiful surroundings of Popplefords restaurant   tickets are £15 payable on the door, tickets in advance for only £12.50 each

For further details please contact Busy Lizzie’s on 01395 568558 or Visit Busy Lizzie’s craft & plant shop, Popplefords Barn, Exeter Road, Just outside Newton Poppleford.