As the roses in our gardens start to come into bloom the Gardens Trust is delighted to announce an online lecture on May 16 in partnership with the Historic Roses Group. This ticket for this individual session costs £5, and you may register via Eventbrite by clicking HERE. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk. A link to the recorded session (available for 1 week) will be sent shortly afterwards.
Michael Marriott says: I was very fortunate to work at David Austin Roses for 35 years starting not long after the introduction of the rose Graham Thomas. It was a wonderful opportunity to see the small Shropshire nursery grow to the very well-known institution it is today and along the way I met many people in the rose and wider horticultural world. I saw how roses are bred, trialed and then introduced at the Chelsea flower show. As the main representative of DAR I was invited or sent to various rose gardens and conferences around the world. One of my roles at the nursery was to design rose gardens – everything from small borders to major gardens and everywhere from the UK to Bhutan! I also helped with photography which meant visiting some wonderful private gardens. Altogether a wonderful experience.
Michael Marriott has been a very keen gardener from a very early age going on to study Agricultural Botany at university. After 5 years working in the South Pacific he joined David Austin Roses in 1985 first as nursery manager and then as head rosarian spending most of his time advising gardeners from around the world on every aspect of rose growing as well as designing rose gardens. He also lectured and wrote about roses and visited rose gardens helping the owners and head gardeners with rose related issues. He has now retired from David Austin’s but continues to advise, lecture and write and has completed a book called RHS Roses published in May 2022.
