Tiny plant, big story!

Debi and Mark Padgett of Skerne Alpines

Back in May I was luckily enough to visit the RHS Malvern Spring show and I walked pass a stand selling alpines. Now I had been on the lookout for someone who might talk about alpines for some time so I admit I was immediately interested but what really struck me was overhearing the care with which Debi and Mark were selling their alpines. Each customer was getting advice on how to grow and care for the plant they were buying and that is what I love when you buy from a grower. Their passion for the plant just shines through and they want you to love it as much as they do. They don’t want that little alpine that they have grown from seed to drown because its new owner unwittingly overwatered it!

Despite being very busy, Mark kindly agreed to give me some of his time to answer my questions about the Saxifraga x urbium ‘London Pride’. And you can hear his advice in the programme above or read it on the episode page here. Sadly London Pride has fallen out of fashion as Mark puts it - people associate it with their granny and there are now so many other alpines on offer. It is true that ‘London Pride’ the star of this months plant story does have its roots back in time with Janet’s mum Margaret who loved alpines. Janet describes her mum as the product of Victorian parents. She loved flowers and Janet’s brother built and planted up a small rockery for her in the factory yard next door to their garden in Burton on Trent.

As you can hear in this episode the tiny plant has taken us on a much bigger journey and a discussion about how plant knowledge and know how is passed down through the generations or perhaps not always passed down through the generations. Janet’s mum would take her and her brother on the bus to parks and fields further afield where she would share her plant knowledge. Why were the Victorians so keen on nature studies, expecting children to learn to identify plants and wild flowers, even if they were living in an urban setting? Today there are some truly sad statistics about the numbers of children who can’t identify flowers and insects, even the ones on their doorstop so to speak. (That’s if the plants are still there and haven’t been identified as weeds and sprayed off by the council!) So this episode leads to a discussion about how do we address this problem, how do we enthuse the next generation with the joys of plants. Lee Connelly aka the skinny jean gardener believes it is by making memories, spending time with children planting seeds, growing things. As any regular listener to this podcast knows plenty of these plant stories go back to childhood. In fact Mark Padgett told me that as a small child, he was too ill to go to school so spent time with his grandfather who was….a head gardener. And now despite having spent a lifetime in the NHS, Mark is back doing the thing he loved as a child.

Perhaps this episode could encourage all of us to think about how we can share our knowledge? Is there someone to whom we could send a packet of seeds or share something we have grown? I remember being at a garden open day where we were giving away dahlia seeds with pots and soil and the delight with which a young man planted up his seeds and took instructions on how to care for them was so beautiful and I often wondered if they bloomed for him that year.

Have a lovely weekend

Sally x

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