Open Country

Monique Gudgeon is on a mission to create a botanic garden. And what better way to get started than to build a new National Plant Collection. In creating a garden from scratch, one of her priorities is to bring in species which both work with the surrounding Dorset landscape and that are in need of conservation. There is a huge diversity of garden plants that need to be looked after so cultivars aren’t lost when they go out of fashion. National Plant Collections were created by the charity Plant Heritage to ensure these plants are preserved and documented for the future. Of the plant groups that don’t currently have a custodian, Monique decided to choose forsythia - deciduous shrubs often overlooked as just a hedging plant which burst into vibrant yellow flowers in early spring. In the process of sourcing and propagating all the varieties needed for a collection, Monique has become utterly fascinated by them and their history. Helen Mark hears the story of Monique’s successes and failures so far, and explore