Exhibitors
Lifelong Learning
Merrist Wood Campus, Guildford College
This stand looks at how climbing plants have evolved and all the various mechanisms they employ to attach to their support or the plants they would naturally clamber over in the wild.
Rothamsted Research
This exhibit explores companion planting, which is when certain combinations of species are planted close together for mutual benefit. Even though it is a traditional way for gardeners to protect their plants or improve yields, it is not known why such partnerships work. Scientists at Rothamsted Research are currently investigating these interactions and their discoveries are being used to enhance the effectiveness of such systems for the protection of crops on a field scale, particularly in developing countries.
One part of this exhibit includes examples of traditional planting combinations used in British gardening, such as tansy with cabbages, marigolds with tomatoes and summer savory with beans. The display will also explain the science behind their effectiveness.
The other part illustrates a planting success story from Africa, the ‘push-pull’ technique. This part of the exhibit depicts an African smallholding growing Sorghum, which is protected by companion plants that both ‘push’ and ‘pull’ pests out of the crop.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
‘Message in a Bottle'. This stand represents a cry for help from a few rare and endangered plants from around the World. The display, which looks like a tropical beach, aims to remind visitors to Chelsea of the richness and uniqueness of plant diversity in isolated parts of the world, along with the severe threats to their survival.
The plants featured include, the cabbage tree from Robinson Crusoe Islands, the café marron, the ‘poke-me-boy’, the St Helena ebony, the toromiro, and the Wollemi pine.
According to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Wollemi pine is the most surprising botanical discovery of the 20th century that occurred only 10 years ago under conditions of the utmost secrecy, which are maintained to this day. A tall pine from the same family as the monkey-puzzle tree, the Wollemi pine comes from the age of the great dinosaurs. It was known from the fossil record and was thought to have become extinct many millions of years ago. The tree was literally stumbled upon by a National Parks officer bush-walking in the Blue Mountains in Australia. Only 100 trees are thought to exist in the wild.
Message in a bottle aims to raise awareness of the role that gardeners and plant scientists can play in conserving these threatened plants, and tell a little of Kew’s international role in this area.
Society for General Microbiology
A variety of plants are displayed in a cottage garden format against a backdrop of the English countryside, illustrating the diversity of plants that live in association with microbes. This garden aims to highlight that the healthy growth of plants depends to a great extent on the interaction with invisible microbes in the soil.
The Society for General Microbiology is a learned society with more than 5,000 members worldwide who work in universities, industry and research institutes. The Society aims to encourage a greater understanding of microbiology and biotechnology by school pupils and the public.
Sparsholt College Hampshire - Twilight or Sunrise?
This year Sparsholt College looks at the contribution that various plant explorers - one from each continent and the plants they have introduced - have made to the flora of British gardens.
The stand asks the question: Are we seeing the twilight of plant collecting or is it the sunrise of a new age?
The Royal College of Pathologists
‘Plants, Pathologists, Drugs and Disease’. This exhibition focuses on six familiar plants, the drugs derived from them, the diseases they treat and how pathologists diagnose and monitor those diseases, using care studies based on real patients.
The plants, drug, disease and variety of pathologists are: Foxglove – Digoxin – Heart disease – Chemical pathologist; Vinca – Vincristine – Leukaemia – Haemotologist; Tea tree bush – Tea tree oil – MRSA – Microbiologist; Yew – Taxol – Ovarian cancer – Histopathologists; Willow – Aspirin – Arthritis – Immunologist; Artemisia – Artemisin – Malaria – Hematologist.
The stand features six exhibition boards, three on either side, each dedicated to a drug derived from a specific plant. There are examples of the type of diseases the drug is used to treat and how pathologists diagnose and monitor the disease.
There is a planting area beneath each board containing the relevant plant(s) and microscopes for viewing the pathology slides related to the various disease.
University of Reading
This display questions whether there are links between the African savanna that man evolved in and the garden features we use today.
The exhibit is divided into two halves to allow comparisons between the savanna landscape and a typical garden. Including features relating to rest, relaxation, shelter, security and the provision of food and water, the exhibit aims to highlight the importance of ‘natural surroundings’ in determining our health and well-being.
Writtle College
This exhibit is designed to show how edible plants that are easy to grow can be used to make an attractive and functional wildlife garden. Three main groups of wildlife feature in this display, namely butterflies, bees and birds. The overall idea is to show how wildlife gardens can be a complete package, beautiful, full of wildlife and life sustaining for all the occupants.